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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation cases again to state court docket in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four dad and mom who gained two defamation instances in opposition to 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 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 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly pretend with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as quickly as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court 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 legal charges and has lost at least $20 million, his representatives stated in court docket. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his consultant stated in court docket, as a result of he feared it will damage his model in the conspiracy theory market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to result in an identical final 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 chapter court docket.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous religion” 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 safety have a mixed monthly revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech techniques may very well be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not celebration to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy court will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342