Alex Jones back on the hook for damages after chapter decide sends Sandy Hook instances to Texas court docket

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation instances back to state court in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four mother and father 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 families will finally have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced at the least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his representative mentioned in court docket, because he feared it would injury his brand in the conspiracy concept market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to result in an identical final result as the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on maintain the two 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 “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families no longer 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 households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who were not celebration to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter court 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