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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation cases back to state courtroom in Texas, where 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’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 parents who received two defamation instances towards Jones in Texas last year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within 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 protection one week before a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully pretend with actors.”

The chapter judge’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might start as soon as June, Bankston recommended.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on legal fees and has lost at the least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones did not file for chapter protection himself, his representative mentioned in court docket, because he feared it might damage his model within the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is expected to lead to the same consequence because the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for families 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 protection have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech methods might be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who were not celebration to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter court 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 families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342