Alex Jones back on the hook for damages after bankruptcy decide sends Sandy Hook circumstances to Texas courtroom

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation cases back to state court in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest 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 12 months. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these households will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

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

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

Among the disclosures that got here out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on legal charges and has lost at the very least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant stated in court docket, as a result of he feared it might injury his model within the conspiracy concept market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally won a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to result in a similar outcome because the Texas circumstances.

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

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

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech programs could be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom 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