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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation circumstances back to state court docket in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four parents who won two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas last 12 months. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 chapter court the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as soon as June, Bankston recommended.

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on legal charges and has lost no less than $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones didn't file for chapter protection himself, his consultant said in court docket, as a result of he feared it will damage his brand within the conspiracy principle market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is expected to lead to a similar consequence as the Texas circumstances.

The rationale 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 placed on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed month-to-month income of $38,000 while Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise 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 could possibly be released again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who were not get together to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter court docket 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 households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342