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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation cases again to state court in Texas, the place the dad and mom of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 parents who won two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas final 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 chapter court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly pretend with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as quickly as June, Bankston recommended.

Among the disclosures that came 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 legal fees and has misplaced at the least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative stated in court docket, because he feared it could damage his model in the conspiracy concept market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced loved ones in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally won a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in an analogous outcome as the Texas instances.

The explanation has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook households took right here and in Texas to outflank Jones in chapter court docket.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business 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 may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who weren't celebration to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy court docket 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