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

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

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 dad and mom who won two defamation instances in opposition to 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 lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter courtroom the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could begin as soon as June, Bankston suggested.

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at least $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones did not file for chapter protection himself, his consultant mentioned in court, as a result of he feared it will injury his model within the conspiracy concept market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in a similar final result as the Texas circumstances.

The explanation 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 submitting put on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy religion” 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 safety have a mixed month-to-month earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't celebration to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342