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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation circumstances again to state court docket in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 dad and mom who gained two defamation instances in opposition to Jones in Texas last 12 months. “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 chapter courtroom where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly pretend with actors.”

The bankruptcy judge’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might start as soon as June, Bankston instructed.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on legal charges and has misplaced at least $20 million, his representatives stated in court. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant stated in courtroom, as a result of he feared it might harm his model in the conspiracy principle market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College also received a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that's expected to result in a similar end result as 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 court docket.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed month-to-month earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the households not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech methods could possibly be released again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter courtroom in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter 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