Alex Jones again on the hook for damages after chapter choose sends Sandy Hook instances to Texas courtroom

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation cases again to state courtroom in Texas, where the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 dad and mom who gained two defamation circumstances towards Jones in Texas last year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these families will lastly 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 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,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly pretend with actors.”

The bankruptcy decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might start as quickly as June, Bankston instructed.

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 least $10 million on legal charges and has lost not less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in courtroom. Jones didn't file for chapter protection himself, his representative mentioned in court docket, as a result of he feared it will injury his brand in the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that is anticipated to end in an identical final result because the Texas circumstances.

The reason has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook households took right here and in Texas to outflank Jones in chapter courtroom.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise 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 techniques might be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who were not party 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 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