Alex Jones again on the hook for damages after bankruptcy decide sends Sandy Hook cases to Texas court

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

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 parents who won two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas final 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 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 mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as quickly as June, Bankston urged.

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at least $10 million on legal fees and has lost at the least $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones did not file for chapter protection himself, his representative stated in court docket, as a result of he feared it could harm his brand in the conspiracy concept market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that's expected to lead to an analogous consequence as the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech methods may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households 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 bankruptcy court docket in Texas agreed.

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom 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