By Dietrich Knauth
(Reuters) – The parents of a six-year old child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre asked a U.S. bankruptcy judge on Tuesday to allow them proceed to trial against right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who claimed for years that the shooting was a hoax.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez said at a hearing in Houston on Tuesday that he will consider their request at a March 24 court hearing.
It would be the third defamation trial against Jones and his company Free Speech Systems, after two previous ones found Jones and FSS liable for a combined $1.5 billion in damages.
Because Jones and his company are bankrupt, lawsuits against them cannot proceed without the permission of a bankruptcy judge.
Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah was killed in the Newtown, Connecticut shooting sued Jones and the company for spreading lies about the shooting. A Texas court previously found them liable and the proposed trial would determine how much Jones owes the parents.
“Pozner and De La Rosa deserve their day in court,” not only to determine the value of their legal claims against Jones, “but also as parents determined to protect Noah’s legacy,” their attorneys wrote in a January court filing.
Jones has argued the trial would “accomplish little” at a “great deal of unnecessary expense.” He estimated a two-week trial would cost $600,000, reducing the amount of money available to pay Pozner, De La Rosa and other Sandy Hook parents with legal claims against him.
Jones claimed for years that the 2012 killing of 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School was staged as part of a government plot to seize Americans’ guns. He has since acknowledged the shooting occurred, but plaintiffs said Jones cashed in for years off his lies about the massacre and subjected them to harassment and stalking by his followers.
Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy in July, but that did not stop two previous defamation trials from proceeding to conclusion in Texas and Connecticut state courts.
Jones filed for personal bankruptcy in December after those two trials concluded, saying he could afford to pay less than 1% of the Sandy Hook defamation judgments.
A new trial would interrupt Jones’ radio and video talk shows, reducing his ability to sell supplements and other products, which are key to producing the income that will eventually be used to pay defamation judgments, Jones said in court papers.
Jones’ ability to generate revenue has been a point of contention in the bankruptcy cases.
Sandy Hook parents raised concerns at Tuesday’s hearing about Jones’s recent recording of a podcast similar to his Alex Jones Show in a new studio space and under a brand not affiliated with FSS.
Jones’ attorney Vickie Driver on Tuesday said the podcast was a “test” and that Jones does not intend to undermine FSS or its ability to pay its share of the defamation verdicts.
“Just because somebody is making alternative plans to support their family does not necessarily mean that that person is jumping ship,” Driver said in court.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, David Gregorio and Bill Berkrot)
