June 21, 2024
On June 21, Willkie secured the dismissal of the Chapter 11 case of Alex Jones’s company, Free Speech Systems (FSS), allowing Sandy Hook parents to collect defamation damages they are owed outside of bankruptcy court. Willkie is serving as pro bono bankruptcy counsel to several Sandy Hook families alongside co-counsel Lawson & Moshenberg and Chamberlain Hrdlicka.
Willkie’s clients, several parents whose children were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, originally brought actions against Alex Jones and FSS in Texas state court to hold Jones and FSS accountable for their defamatory statements about the shooting. Those state court actions, however, were halted when Jones and FSS filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and the Sandy Hook families were dragged into two contentious bankruptcy cases. Willkie advocated on behalf of the Texas plaintiffs for the dismissal of FSS’s bankruptcy case to allow the families to continue to pursue FSS outside of bankruptcy court.
The Bankruptcy Court agreed with the Texas plaintiffs and ordered dismissal of FSS’s Chapter 11 case. The decision allows the families to finally enforce their rights as judgment creditors against FSS in state court after two years of bankruptcy proceedings. This outcome prevents a lengthy liquidation process and enables the families to immediately collect on their judgments against FSS. The families will also have the opportunity to obtain meaningful recoveries from the ongoing operations at FSS while Jones undergoes liquidation in his personal bankruptcy case.
Separately, Willkie also prevailed against Alex Jones’s attempt to challenge the Bankruptcy Court’s ruling last fall that barred him from using his personal bankruptcy to discharge debt that he owes to the Sandy Hook families. On June 21, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas entered an order denying interlocutory review of the Bankruptcy Court’s decision finding Alex Jones must pay for his willful and malicious injury of Sandy Hook families regardless of his bankruptcy proceeding. Willkie and co-counsel previously secured the ruling establishing that judgments their clients obtained against Alex Jones were not dischargeable in Jones’s personal bankruptcy. Jones sought leave from the Southern District of Texas to appeal the decision through interlocutory review
The Willkie team was led by partners Jennifer Hardy and Stuart Lombardi and included partner Rachel Strickland and associates Ciara Sisco, Courtenay Cullen and Deanna Drenga.
Willkie’s clients, several parents whose children were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, originally brought actions against Alex Jones and FSS in Texas state court to hold Jones and FSS accountable for their defamatory statements about the shooting. Those state court actions, however, were halted when Jones and FSS filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and the Sandy Hook families were dragged into two contentious bankruptcy cases. Willkie advocated on behalf of the Texas plaintiffs for the dismissal of FSS’s bankruptcy case to allow the families to continue to pursue FSS outside of bankruptcy court.
The Bankruptcy Court agreed with the Texas plaintiffs and ordered dismissal of FSS’s Chapter 11 case. The decision allows the families to finally enforce their rights as judgment creditors against FSS in state court after two years of bankruptcy proceedings. This outcome prevents a lengthy liquidation process and enables the families to immediately collect on their judgments against FSS. The families will also have the opportunity to obtain meaningful recoveries from the ongoing operations at FSS while Jones undergoes liquidation in his personal bankruptcy case.
Separately, Willkie also prevailed against Alex Jones’s attempt to challenge the Bankruptcy Court’s ruling last fall that barred him from using his personal bankruptcy to discharge debt that he owes to the Sandy Hook families. On June 21, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas entered an order denying interlocutory review of the Bankruptcy Court’s decision finding Alex Jones must pay for his willful and malicious injury of Sandy Hook families regardless of his bankruptcy proceeding. Willkie and co-counsel previously secured the ruling establishing that judgments their clients obtained against Alex Jones were not dischargeable in Jones’s personal bankruptcy. Jones sought leave from the Southern District of Texas to appeal the decision through interlocutory review
The Willkie team was led by partners Jennifer Hardy and Stuart Lombardi and included partner Rachel Strickland and associates Ciara Sisco, Courtenay Cullen and Deanna Drenga.
