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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation instances back to state courtroom in Texas, the place the parents 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 surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four parents who gained two defamation instances against Jones in Texas last year. “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 chapter court the place 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 history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “completely faux with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at the very least $10 million on authorized charges and has lost at least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy safety himself, his representative stated in court, because he feared it will harm his model in the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost family members in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally won a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that's expected to lead to the same end result as the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month income of $38,000 while Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the households not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech techniques may very well be released again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, 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 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