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

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

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 dad and mom who gained two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas final yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these households will finally have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter court docket the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”

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

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

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced loved ones in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that is anticipated to lead to a similar final result as the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy religion” 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 mixed monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech techniques may very well be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who weren't party to the bankruptcies.

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

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

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342