Alex Jones again 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 cases back to state courtroom in Texas, where the dad and mom of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 parents who received two defamation cases against Jones in Texas last 12 months. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these families will finally have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy courtroom the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

The bankruptcy decide’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may start as quickly as June, Bankston urged.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter 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 legal fees and has misplaced at the very least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative said in courtroom, as a result of he feared it might damage his brand within the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also received a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that is anticipated to result in the same final result because the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on maintain the 2 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 “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed month-to-month income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech methods could be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who weren't occasion to the bankruptcies.

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

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342