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

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

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 dad and mom who gained 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 families will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy court docket the place 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 mother and father he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy judge’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could begin as quickly as June, Bankston recommended.

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on authorized fees and has lost at the very least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones did not file for bankruptcy safety himself, his representative stated in courtroom, as a result of he feared it would injury his brand within the conspiracy concept market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom on Tuesday that is expected to end in a similar consequence as the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad 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 mixed monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the households now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech systems could possibly be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut chapter 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