Sandy Hook families want out of Alex Jones’ bankruptcies

NEWTOWN — In the simplest terms, the Sandy Hook families that won lawsuits against Alex Jones in Connecticut and Texas have no interest in the Jones-controlled businesses that sought bankruptcy protection and put the families’ defamation damages trials on hold.

The three companies in bankruptcy have a combined monthly income of $38,000. Jones in 2019 made at least $76 million, his representative said in court.

The Sandy Hook families’ target is Jones and his parent company, Free Speech Systems, neither of which filed for bankruptcy.

When the families here and in Texas dropped from their lawsuits against those Jones-controlled companies in bankruptcy, the families figured their cases against Jones and Free Speech Systems could be returned to state trial courts, since the families were no longer involved as creditors of the Jones companies in federal bankruptcy.

However, Jones’ attorneys filed an objection to being dismissed from the families’ lawsuits, arguing it would cause “significant confusion regarding the (bankruptcy) court’s otherwise unquestionable jurisdiction …”

Rather than wait until the May 27 hearing in Southern Texas Bankruptcy Court, where the families have filed motions to dismiss Jones’ “bad faith” filings, the families asked a judge if they can have an answer sooner about why they should be involved in bankruptcy cases where they are no longer creditors.

On Monday a federal bankruptcy judge agreed, granting the families a “status conference” on Friday.

At stake for the families is their right to damage awards against Jones, who called the shooting of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”

At stake for Jones is the future of his conspiracythemed, internet-based broadcast and merchandising business, his representatives said in court. Jones has spent at least $10 million in legal fees and has lost at least $20 million because of the Sandy Hook defamation cases, his representatives said.

“With the Connecticut (families’) claims against the debtors having been dismissed, there should be no further reason to jeopardize the Connecticut (families’) August 2022 trial date and force them to incur additional expenses litigating in a forum where they are not creditors,” said Ryan Chapple, an attorney representing an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook shooting. “The Connecticut (families) dismissed these ( Jones companies) because participating in these bankruptcy cases will divert vast resources and frustrate their true purpose, which is to proceed to try their cases against Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems.”