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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation circumstances again to state court 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 should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 parents who won two defamation instances against Jones in Texas last 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 court docket 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 dad and mom he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent a minimum of $10 million on authorized charges and has lost at the least $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative stated in courtroom, as a result of he feared it might injury his model within the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile 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 College also received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is expected to lead to the same outcome 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.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques didn't 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 at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the households no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech methods might be released again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't get together to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether 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