The families of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting want conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay their legal costs. They’re calling on judges in Connecticut and Texas to make it happen.
The families initially said Jones’ effort to seek federal bankruptcy protection was a calculated stunt to evade the upcoming trials and avoid paying the families. A federal judge in Texas on Friday dismissed the bankruptcy protection case of Infowars and two other companies controlled by Jones.
Infowars, Prison Planet TV and IW Health consented to dismissing the bankruptcy case last week after the families agreed to drop the three companies from their defamation lawsuits. Those lawsuits will continue against Jones himself and his largest moneymaking company, Free Speech Systems.
The families are now asking the judges to make the InfoWars host pay their 45 days of legal costs to fight his filing in federal court.
Jones lost defamation lawsuits over his claims that the 2012 shooting was a hoax. The families' lawsuits say they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from Jones' followers because of the hoax conspiracy. Jones, based in Austin, Texas, has since said he believes the shooting did occur.
The families said they are not interested in any financial gains from Jones’ InfoWars program.
Court papers show that Jones has spent $10 million in legal fees. He’s also lost $20 million in product sales because of the defamation cases.