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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation instances back to state court in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 parents who won two defamation circumstances towards Jones in Texas final 12 months. “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 courtroom the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as quickly as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent a minimum of $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced no less than $20 million, his representatives said in court. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant stated in court, because he feared it might injury his brand within the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also won a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that's anticipated to result in the same consequence as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for households 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 month-to-month earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech programs could be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't get together to the bankruptcies.

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

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