Alex Jones again on the hook for damages after chapter judge sends Sandy Hook circumstances to Texas court docket

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation instances 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 must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” said Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 dad and mom who received two defamation instances towards 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 courtroom the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at the very least $10 million on authorized fees and has lost at the very least $20 million, his representatives stated in court docket. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his representative mentioned in courtroom, as a result of he feared it would damage his brand in the conspiracy principle market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced loved ones within 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 planned in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to result in an analogous outcome as the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not get together to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy court docket 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