Alex Jones again on the hook for damages after chapter judge sends Sandy Hook circumstances to Texas court docket

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation instances again to state courtroom in Texas, where the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four parents who received two defamation cases in opposition to 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 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 earlier than a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

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

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 no less than $10 million on legal charges and has lost not less than $20 million, his representatives stated in courtroom. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative stated in court, as a result of he feared it might injury his model within the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom on Tuesday that is expected to result in an identical outcome because the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed month-to-month income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech programs might be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who weren't celebration to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays 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