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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances again to state courtroom in Texas, the place the mother and father 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’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four parents who won two defamation cases in opposition to Jones in Texas last year. “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 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,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

The bankruptcy judge’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may start as soon as June, Bankston suggested.

Among the disclosures that came out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the very least $10 million on legal charges and has lost at the very least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant mentioned in courtroom, as a result of he feared it would damage his brand within the conspiracy principle market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to end in an identical outcome because the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech techniques might be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households 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 docket in Texas agreed.

It remains 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