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 sent his defamation circumstances again to state courtroom in Texas, the place the parents 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 stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 mother and father who won 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 lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy court docket the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

The bankruptcy decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could begin as soon as June, Bankston steered.

Among the disclosures that came out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent a minimum of $10 million on legal fees and has misplaced no less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative mentioned in court docket, as a result of he feared it might injury his brand within the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also won a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that is expected to lead to a similar final result as the Texas cases.

The rationale 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 hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined month-to-month income of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the households now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech programs could possibly be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who weren't social gathering to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter court 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