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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation cases back to state court docket in Texas, where the dad and mom of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 dad and mom who gained two defamation cases in opposition to Jones in Texas last yr. “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 bankruptcy 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 history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully pretend with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as soon as June, Bankston instructed.

Among the disclosures that got here 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 least $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant mentioned in courtroom, because he feared it will injury his brand within the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to result in an analogous end result as the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech programs might be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who weren't party to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter court docket 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