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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation cases back to state courtroom in Texas, where the dad and mom 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 stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four parents who gained two defamation instances against Jones in Texas last yr. “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 the place 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 called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at least $10 million on legal charges and has misplaced at the very least $20 million, his representatives said in court. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative stated in court, because he feared it might harm his model within the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where 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 gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in an identical consequence as the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the households now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards 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 Programs, who were not occasion to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy court docket 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