(Trends Wide) — Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist who runs the right-wing commentary website Infowars, was held legally liable in two lawsuits for damages caused by his claims related to the 2012 Sandy Hook school mass shooting, according to published court documents. Thursday.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble issued default verdicts Monday against Jones and her media for failing to comply with court orders to provide information for lawsuits filed against her by the parents of two children killed in the shooting.
The rulings, which were first reported by the Huffington Post, effectively mean that Jones lost the default cases. A jury will meet to determine how much it owes the plaintiffs, according to the report.
An attorney for the parents, Mark Bankston, told Trends Wide in a written statement that the sentences offer his clients “the closure they deserve.”
He added: “Mr. Jones was given ample opportunity to take these demands seriously and to abide by the rule of law. He chose not to, and will now face the consequences of that decision.”
Jones falsely claimed that the December 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a “giant hoax” carried out by crisis actors on behalf of people who oppose the Second Amendment.
The attacker killed 26 people at the school, 20 of whom were young children, before committing suicide.
Several families of the victims sued Jones for defamation in the Texas and Connecticut courts.
The Texas judge basically ruled that Jones and his parent company, Free Speech Systems, “willfully disobeyed” court orders when they failed to deliver certain documents related to the lawsuits against them.
“The Court finds that Defendants’ noncompliance … is greatly aggravated by [su] consistent pattern of discovery abuse throughout similar cases pending before this Court, “wrote Gamble in one of his rulings.” The Court finds that the Defendants’ discovery conduct in this case is the result of blatant bad faith and a callous disregard for the responsibilities of discovery according to the rules. “
In 2019, Jones acknowledged that the shooting was real during an affidavit he made as part of a defamation case brought against him by the families of the Sandy Hook victims. Jones’ attorney, Brad Reeves, declined to comment when contacted by Trends Wide on Thursday, but a statement published in Infowars by attorney Norm Pattis said the court’s decisions were “staggering.”
“It does not take into account the tens of thousands of documents produced by the defendants, the hours they spent sitting for depositions, and the various affidavits filed in these cases,” the statement said. “We are distressed by what we view as a flagrant abuse of discretion by the trial court. We are determined to see these cases heard on the merits.”
Trends Wide’s Taylor Romine and Kari Pricher contributed to this report.
(Trends Wide) — Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist who runs the right-wing commentary website Infowars, was held legally liable in two lawsuits for damages caused by his claims related to the 2012 Sandy Hook school mass shooting, according to published court documents. Thursday.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble issued default verdicts Monday against Jones and her media for failing to comply with court orders to provide information for lawsuits filed against her by the parents of two children killed in the shooting.
The rulings, which were first reported by the Huffington Post, effectively mean that Jones lost the default cases. A jury will meet to determine how much it owes the plaintiffs, according to the report.
An attorney for the parents, Mark Bankston, told Trends Wide in a written statement that the sentences offer his clients “the closure they deserve.”
He added: “Mr. Jones was given ample opportunity to take these demands seriously and to abide by the rule of law. He chose not to, and will now face the consequences of that decision.”
Jones falsely claimed that the December 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a “giant hoax” carried out by crisis actors on behalf of people who oppose the Second Amendment.
The attacker killed 26 people at the school, 20 of whom were young children, before committing suicide.
Several families of the victims sued Jones for defamation in the Texas and Connecticut courts.
The Texas judge basically ruled that Jones and his parent company, Free Speech Systems, “willfully disobeyed” court orders when they failed to deliver certain documents related to the lawsuits against them.
“The Court finds that Defendants’ noncompliance … is greatly aggravated by [su] consistent pattern of discovery abuse throughout similar cases pending before this Court, “wrote Gamble in one of his rulings.” The Court finds that the Defendants’ discovery conduct in this case is the result of blatant bad faith and a callous disregard for the responsibilities of discovery according to the rules. “
In 2019, Jones acknowledged that the shooting was real during an affidavit he made as part of a defamation case brought against him by the families of the Sandy Hook victims. Jones’ attorney, Brad Reeves, declined to comment when contacted by Trends Wide on Thursday, but a statement published in Infowars by attorney Norm Pattis said the court’s decisions were “staggering.”
“It does not take into account the tens of thousands of documents produced by the defendants, the hours they spent sitting for depositions, and the various affidavits filed in these cases,” the statement said. “We are distressed by what we view as a flagrant abuse of discretion by the trial court. We are determined to see these cases heard on the merits.”
Trends Wide’s Taylor Romine and Kari Pricher contributed to this report.