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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation instances back 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 a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 dad and mom who received two defamation instances 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 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 safety 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 historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “completely faux with actors.”

The chapter choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as soon as June, Bankston instructed.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the very least $10 million on legal fees and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives stated in court. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his consultant mentioned in court, as a result of he feared it could injury his model in the conspiracy concept market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally won a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is expected to lead to a similar outcome as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put 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 “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families 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 bankruptcy courtroom in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter court docket 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