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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation cases back to state court in Texas, where the parents 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 the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four mother and father who received two defamation circumstances towards Jones in Texas final yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these households will lastly 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 start to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully pretend with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as soon as June, Bankston advised.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy 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 authorized fees and has misplaced at least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones didn't file for chapter protection himself, his representative stated in court, because he feared it might injury his model in the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in the same final result because the Texas instances.

The reason has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook families took here and in Texas to outflank Jones in chapter courtroom.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the households not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech techniques might be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't occasion 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 bankruptcy courtroom 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