The families of Sandy Hook victims are set to resume their lawsuit against Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for calling the 2012 Newtown school shooting a hoax, after a federal judge approved their case and referred them to a court in Austin, Texas.
Jones has already been found guilty of defamation and causing emotional distress to the parents of several Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims when he claimed the mass shooting, which took the lives of 20 children and six adults, was part of a hoax perpetrated by the government in order to restrict gun rights.
In an earlier hearing, Jones claimed he was suffering from 'a form of psychosis' when he made the remarks.
However, the trial was briefly put on hold earlier this year after Jones attempted to wriggle out of paying a settlement by declaring bankruptcy a week before a jury was set to convene how much he and his company were liable to pay in damages.
Advert
Jones filed bankruptcy charges for three of his media companies – Infowars, Prison Planet TV and IW Health – in order to claim protection from any damages.
However, this week a federal bankruptcy judge released Jones from bankruptcy protection and sent his defamation cases back to state court in Texas, where Infowars HQ is located.
The trial does not currently have a start date but is expected to resume next month.
“[We] are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four parents who won two defamation cases against Jones last year.
Advert
“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.”
Since the Sandy Hook cases went to court last year Jones has already paid over $10 million in legal fees and is reported to have lost at least $20 million, his representatives said in court.
However, despite these losses Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself because he feared doing so would damage his brand in the conspiracy theory market, his representatives claimed.
Advert
Attorneys for the Sandy Hook families have accused Jones of trying to hide millions of dollars in assets, after it was reported that he made over $76 million in 2019.
As well as the Austin hearing, Jones also faces a trial in Connecticut to determine how much money he must pay other Sandy Hook families for defamation, in addition to a previous case he lost in the same state where an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones in the massacre also won a defamation case against him in 2021.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Topics: US News
Tom Sanders