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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances again to state court 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 surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four mother and father who received two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas final 12 months. “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 bankruptcy court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in courtroom. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative stated in court, because he feared it would injury his brand within the conspiracy theory market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally won a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that is expected to lead to the same end result as the Texas circumstances.

The reason has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook households 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. Attorneys for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the households now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech programs could be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who weren't party to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy court docket will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342