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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation circumstances again to state court docket in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 parents who gained two defamation instances towards Jones in Texas final 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 bankruptcy court the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as soon as June, Bankston advised.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on legal charges and has lost no less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his consultant said in court docket, as a result of he feared it will injury his model within the conspiracy concept market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in the same outcome as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech methods 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 docket in Texas agreed.

It stays 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