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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances again to state court in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four mother and father who gained two defamation instances in opposition to Jones in Texas last yr. “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 court docket the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that got here out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on legal fees and has lost not less than $20 million, his representatives stated in courtroom. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative stated in court docket, because he feared it will damage his brand in the conspiracy principle market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in an analogous final result 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 bankruptcy courtroom.

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

In response, the households 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 could be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not party to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy court 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