Alex Jones back on the hook for damages after bankruptcy judge sends Sandy Hook circumstances to Texas court

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation cases back to state court in Texas, where the mother and father of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 mother and father who gained two defamation instances against 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 finally have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy court docket the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than 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 historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely faux with actors.”

The chapter judge’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as quickly as June, Bankston recommended.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on legal fees and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant stated in courtroom, as a result of he feared it could harm his model within the conspiracy theory market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's expected to end in an analogous final result as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed monthly earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech systems could be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't party to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut chapter court docket 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