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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation circumstances back to state court docket in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 dad and mom who gained two defamation instances in opposition to Jones in Texas last 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 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as soon as June, Bankston urged.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on legal charges and has misplaced at the least $20 million, his representatives stated in court docket. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his representative said in court, because he feared it might injury his brand in the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to end in an analogous end result because the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed monthly income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the households now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech programs might be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't get together to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter court 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