Alex Jones again on the hook for damages after bankruptcy choose sends Sandy Hook cases to Texas court docket

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation cases back to state courtroom in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four mother and father who won two defamation cases in opposition to Jones in Texas final yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these households will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy courtroom the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully pretend with actors.”

The chapter judge’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as soon as June, Bankston steered.

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced a minimum of $20 million, his representatives mentioned in courtroom. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his consultant stated in court docket, as a result of he feared it will harm his model in the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in an identical consequence as the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not celebration to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains 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