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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation instances again to state courtroom in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 dad and mom who received two defamation instances towards 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 lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter court where 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 mother and father he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as soon as June, Bankston recommended.

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on legal fees and has lost at least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative mentioned in courtroom, as a result of he feared it might harm his model within the conspiracy concept market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in the same final 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 courtroom.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly revenue of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech programs could possibly be released again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't celebration to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal bankruptcy 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 households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342