Alex Jones again on the hook for damages after bankruptcy choose sends Sandy Hook cases to Texas courtroom

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation instances back to state court docket in Texas, the place the dad and mom of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 parents who gained two defamation instances in opposition to Jones in Texas last yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these families will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy court the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly pretend with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may start as quickly as June, Bankston steered.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on legal charges and has misplaced at least $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones did not file for chapter protection himself, his representative said in court, because he feared it will damage his model within the conspiracy principle market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who lost family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally received a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that's anticipated to result in the same final result as the Texas cases.

The reason has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook households took here and in Texas to outflank Jones in bankruptcy courtroom.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed month-to-month income of $38,000 while Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech techniques may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not party to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter court docket in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy court will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342