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

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

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four dad and mom 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 court docket the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that came out of the chapter court 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 charges and has lost at the least $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant said in court docket, as a result of he feared it might injury his model within the conspiracy concept market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College also won a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is expected to end in an analogous final result because the Texas instances.

The reason has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook families 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 court docket trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined month-to-month income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at the least $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 within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech methods may very well be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who were not celebration to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy court will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342