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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances back to state court docket in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 mother and father who gained two defamation cases towards Jones in Texas last yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these households will finally have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy court docket where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as quickly as June, Bankston urged.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on legal charges and has misplaced at the least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court docket. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his consultant stated in court, because he feared it could harm his brand in the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is expected to result in a similar outcome as the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on hold the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques did not 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 households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech methods may very well be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, 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 or not Connecticut bankruptcy court will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342