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

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

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 parents who received two defamation circumstances against Jones in Texas final yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within 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 bankruptcy court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as soon as June, Bankston suggested.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on legal fees and has misplaced a minimum of $20 million, his representatives said in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative said in court docket, as a result of he feared it could damage his model in the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced loved ones in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also won a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to end in the same consequence as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech techniques could possibly be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who weren't 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 chapter 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