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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances again to state courtroom in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how a lot Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four parents who gained two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas last year. “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 protection 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 called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

The chapter choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may start as quickly as June, Bankston instructed.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on authorized charges and has lost no less than $20 million, his representatives stated in courtroom. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his representative stated in courtroom, because he feared it will damage his brand within the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College also gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that's anticipated to result in an analogous outcome because the Texas circumstances.

The rationale has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook households took right here and in Texas to outflank Jones in bankruptcy courtroom.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems didn't file for bankruptcy. 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 said in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems could possibly be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who were not social gathering 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 chapter court 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