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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation cases back to state court docket in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 mother and father who gained two defamation instances towards Jones in Texas last year. “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 bankruptcy courtroom 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,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

The chapter choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as quickly as June, Bankston recommended.

Among the disclosures that came out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced a minimum of $20 million, his representatives said in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy safety himself, his representative mentioned in court, because he feared it could injury his model in the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who lost family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also won a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to lead to the same consequence as the Texas circumstances.

The explanation 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 filing put on hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the households not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech programs may very well be released back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who were not celebration 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 bankruptcy courtroom will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342