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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation circumstances again to state courtroom in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath 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 the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four parents who won two defamation cases in opposition to Jones in Texas last year. “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 the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly pretend with actors.”

The chapter choose’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as soon as June, Bankston urged.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on legal charges and has lost at the least $20 million, his representatives stated in court docket. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant mentioned in courtroom, because he feared it will injury his brand within the conspiracy concept market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally won a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is anticipated to result in an identical final result because the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy 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 protection have a mixed monthly earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the households no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech systems could be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

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

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342