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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation circumstances again to state courtroom in Texas, the place the dad and mom of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 dad and mom who received two defamation circumstances towards Jones in Texas last 12 months. “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 chapter court the place 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 parents he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “completely faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy judge’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as quickly as June, Bankston advised.

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

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College also won a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that is expected to end in an analogous end result as the Texas instances.

The reason 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 two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined month-to-month earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech programs could be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342