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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation cases back to state court docket in Texas, where the dad and mom of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 mother and father who won two defamation instances in opposition to Jones in Texas final yr. “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 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 mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely pretend with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that came out of the chapter courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on authorized charges and has lost at least $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative mentioned in courtroom, as a result of he feared it will injury his brand within the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime 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 School additionally gained a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that's expected to result in the same final result because 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 courtroom.

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined month-to-month income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech methods might be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who weren't social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy court will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342