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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation cases again to state courtroom in Texas, where the dad and mom of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 parents who received two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas last year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully faux with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at least $10 million on authorized charges and has lost not less than $20 million, his representatives stated in court. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative mentioned in court docket, because he feared it would injury his brand within the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to lead to a similar final result because the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the households now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut chapter 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