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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation cases again to state courtroom in Texas, where 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 however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 mother and father who received two defamation instances in opposition to 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 where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on legal charges and has lost not less than $20 million, his representatives stated in court docket. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his representative said in courtroom, because he feared it would injury his model in the conspiracy theory market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in a similar end result as the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined month-to-month income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech techniques could be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who were not occasion to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter courtroom in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter court docket 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