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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation circumstances back to state court docket in Texas, where the dad and mom of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much 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 lawyer representing four dad and mom who received two defamation instances in opposition to Jones in Texas last yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in the coming weeks, and these households will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter courtroom where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that came 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 misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives said in court. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his consultant stated in courtroom, because he feared it could injury his brand within the conspiracy idea 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 received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to result in an analogous end result because the Texas circumstances.

The reason has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook families took here and in Texas to outflank Jones in bankruptcy court docket.

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

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech methods may very well be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter court docket will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342