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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances back to state courtroom in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned 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 instances towards 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 docket where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the very least $10 million on legal fees and has misplaced at the very least $20 million, his representatives stated in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant stated in courtroom, because he feared it could harm his model within the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut chapter court docket 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 courtroom.

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed month-to-month revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech programs may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not get together to the bankruptcies.

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

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342