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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation circumstances back to state court in Texas, where the dad and mom of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four parents who received two defamation cases towards Jones in Texas last yr. “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 where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to find out 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,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely faux with actors.”

The chapter choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as quickly as June, Bankston steered.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced at least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative mentioned in court docket, as a result of he feared it could damage his brand in the conspiracy principle market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is anticipated to result in an analogous outcome because the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed month-to-month earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the households now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech techniques might be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who were not party to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy 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