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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation cases again to state court in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath 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,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four mother and father who won two defamation circumstances 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 families will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter courtroom the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced at the least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his representative mentioned in courtroom, because he feared it could injury his model in the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in a similar final result as the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on hold the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed month-to-month revenue of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech methods may very well be released back to the state courts for trial. The families 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 chapter court docket in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy 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