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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation circumstances 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 will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four dad and mom who gained two defamation instances against Jones in Texas final year. “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 chapter court docket the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start 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,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as quickly as June, Bankston instructed.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at the very least $10 million on authorized charges and has lost at the very least $20 million, his representatives stated in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative stated in courtroom, as a result of he feared it will injury his model within the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College also won a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's expected to lead to an analogous end result because 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 bankruptcy court docket.

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined month-to-month revenue of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court.

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 towards Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't celebration to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut chapter court docket will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342