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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation cases again to state court in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” said Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four dad and mom who received two defamation instances towards Jones in Texas final year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in the coming weeks, and these households will finally 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 start to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on legal fees and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives stated in court. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant said in court docket, as a result of he feared it might injury his brand within the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that is expected to result in a similar end result as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on maintain 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 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 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 families 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 towards Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not party to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal bankruptcy courtroom 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