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

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

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 mother and father who won two defamation instances in opposition to Jones in Texas final 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 where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection 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 known as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely pretend with actors.”

The chapter judge’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as quickly as June, Bankston suggested.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced no less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court docket. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his representative mentioned in court docket, as a result of he feared it would injury his brand in the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members 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 bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's anticipated to lead to an analogous outcome as the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems could possibly be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't occasion 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