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

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

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four dad and mom who won two defamation cases against Jones in Texas final 12 months. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these households will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”

The chapter judge’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as quickly as June, Bankston instructed.

Among the disclosures that got here out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced no less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in courtroom. Jones did not file for chapter protection himself, his consultant said in court docket, as a result of he feared it would harm his brand within the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced loved ones within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that is expected to result in the same final result as the Texas circumstances.

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 filing put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the households now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech techniques could possibly be released again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not celebration 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 chapter 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