Alex Jones back on the hook for damages after chapter choose sends Sandy Hook instances to Texas courtroom

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation cases back to state court in Texas, where the dad and mom 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 surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 parents who received two defamation instances in opposition to Jones in Texas last 12 months. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 courtroom where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely pretend with actors.”

The bankruptcy decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might start as soon as June, Bankston steered.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at least $10 million on legal fees and has misplaced at the very least $20 million, his representatives stated in court docket. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his representative said in court, because he feared it might damage his model in the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's expected to end in an analogous final result because the Texas circumstances.

The explanation 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 submitting put on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” 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 month-to-month revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court.

In response, the households 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 might be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't occasion to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter 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