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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances back to state courtroom 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 shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four mother and father who received two defamation cases towards Jones in Texas last yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in the coming weeks, and these households will lastly 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 safety one week before a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on authorized fees and has lost no less than $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant mentioned in court, because he feared it could damage his brand within the conspiracy principle market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost family members in 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 planned in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that's anticipated to result in an identical final result as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the households no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech techniques may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not get together to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy court will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342