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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety 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 a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four dad and mom who received two defamation cases against Jones in Texas last year. “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 court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

The chapter choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might start as soon as June, Bankston steered.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent a minimum of $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced a minimum of $20 million, his representatives said in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant said in court docket, as a result of he feared it will injury his brand in the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to end in an analogous outcome as the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech systems could possibly be released again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who were not get together to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy court will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342