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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation instances back to state court docket in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how a lot Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 dad and mom who received two defamation instances towards Jones in Texas final yr. “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 the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly pretend with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as soon as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent a minimum of $10 million on legal charges and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant mentioned in court docket, as a result of he feared it will harm his model within the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also won a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to result in the same final result as the Texas circumstances.

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 two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the households not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not get together 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 chapter courtroom 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