Alex Jones back on the hook for damages after bankruptcy choose sends Sandy Hook circumstances to Texas courtroom

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

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four dad and mom who gained two defamation cases towards Jones in Texas final 12 months. “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 court docket where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection 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 history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “completely faux with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the very least $10 million on legal fees and has lost at the very least $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his representative mentioned in court docket, as a result of he feared it might harm his brand in the conspiracy concept market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School also gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom on Tuesday that's anticipated to lead to an analogous end result as the Texas circumstances.

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

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

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech techniques may very well be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not occasion to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether 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