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

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

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 mother and father who won two defamation cases 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 households 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 begin to find out what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that came out of the chapter 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 charges and has misplaced at the least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant said in court, because he feared it would injury his brand within the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to end in the same final result as the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting 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 methods did not 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 households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the households no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems could possibly be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't celebration to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342