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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances back to state court docket in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 mother and father who won two defamation cases in opposition to Jones in Texas last yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 courtroom where 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 parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully pretend with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced at the very least $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his consultant said in court docket, as a result of he feared it would damage his brand in 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 School additionally gained a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that's expected to lead to an identical outcome because the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals 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 programs didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems could possibly be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who weren't get together 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 courtroom 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