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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances back to state courtroom in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain in 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’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 parents who received two defamation circumstances towards Jones in Texas last yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on legal charges and has lost at the least $20 million, his representatives said in court docket. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative said in court docket, as a result of he feared it might injury his brand in the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced loved ones in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also won a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that is expected to lead to the same final result because the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for households 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 bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined month-to-month earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't party 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 chapter court docket will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342