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

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

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four dad and mom who won two defamation cases 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 lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy courtroom 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 dad and mom he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

The chapter judge’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might start as quickly as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on legal fees and has misplaced at least $20 million, his representatives stated in court docket. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his consultant mentioned in courtroom, because he feared it could harm his brand within the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally won a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to lead to a similar outcome 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 bankruptcy court.

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the households no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech techniques might be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who were not get together to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether 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