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

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

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 mother and father who gained two defamation circumstances in opposition to 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 finally have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy courtroom the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely faux with actors.”

The chapter choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might start as soon as June, Bankston suggested.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on authorized charges and has lost at the very least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant said in court docket, because he feared it will harm his brand in the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally gained a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that is anticipated to lead to an analogous final result as the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on hold the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Lawyers 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 methods did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed month-to-month revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the households no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech programs may very well be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter court 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