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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation instances back to state court in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four dad and mom who gained two defamation instances in opposition to Jones in Texas final 12 months. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 bankruptcy court docket where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to start 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 “completely fake with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that got here out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on authorized fees and has lost at least $20 million, his representatives stated in court. Jones did not file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant mentioned in courtroom, because he feared it would damage his model within the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members within 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 deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom on Tuesday that is expected to end in a similar outcome as the Texas cases.

The explanation has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook families took here and in Texas to outflank Jones in chapter court.

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy 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 safety have a mixed month-to-month income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the households no longer had a stake in 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 target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't occasion to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter courtroom 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