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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation instances again to state court docket in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four parents who won two defamation instances towards Jones in Texas last 12 months. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within 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 chapter court the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “fully faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as quickly as June, Bankston recommended.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent a minimum of $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced at the least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant said in courtroom, as a result of he feared it might harm his brand within the conspiracy concept market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost family members in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally won a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that's expected to end in an analogous final result as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain 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 “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in courtroom.

In response, the households 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 towards Jones and Free Speech systems could possibly be launched back 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 chapter courtroom in Texas agreed.

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut chapter courtroom 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