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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation instances again to state court docket in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 dad and mom who gained two defamation circumstances against Jones in Texas last 12 months. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 courtroom the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might start as quickly as June, Bankston suggested.

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced a minimum of $20 million, his representatives stated in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant stated in courtroom, because he feared it might damage his brand in the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also received a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that is expected to lead to a similar consequence because the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad 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 combined monthly earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech methods could be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't celebration to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter court 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