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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation cases back to state courtroom in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 parents who received two defamation instances towards Jones in Texas last year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these families will finally have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter court docket the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

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 very least $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced at the very least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court docket. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative mentioned in court docket, because he feared it could injury his model within the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to lead to the same end result as the Texas circumstances.

The reason 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 two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket 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 did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed monthly revenue of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech methods could possibly be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't party to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter courtroom 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