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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation cases again to state court docket in Texas, the place the dad and mom of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four mother and father who won two defamation cases against Jones in Texas final yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 chapter courtroom the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to start 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,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could begin as quickly as June, Bankston recommended.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the very least $10 million on authorized charges and has lost no less than $20 million, his representatives stated in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his representative mentioned in court, because he feared it could injury his brand in the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally won a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's expected to lead to the same final result because the Texas cases.

The rationale has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook families took right here and in Texas to outflank Jones in chapter 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. Attorneys for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month revenue of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the households now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech systems could possibly be released back to the state courts for trial. The households 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 court will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342