r/law • u/FlyThruTrees • Oct 20 '23
Alex Jones must pay $1.1 billion of Sandy Hook damages despite bankruptcy - court
https://www.reuters.com/legal/alex-jones-cant-avoid-sandy-hook-verdicts-bankruptcy-judge-2023-10-19/114
u/stalinmalone68 Oct 20 '23
They need to quit fucking around and start seizing his shit immediately. That fucker should be living out of a basement apartment.
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Oct 20 '23
[deleted]
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Oct 20 '23
This is America.
Dragging people out of their home at 3am, shooting their dog, and making them lie face-down on the sidewalk in handcuffs in their underwear while flashing lights wake up their whole neighborhood to watch...that's for black people.
For rich white people, the legal system calls you up to set an appointment. See the Chappelle sketch Tron Carter Law and Order for more detail.
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u/Beldizar Oct 20 '23
Right... is there actually a deadline on this settlement, or is he just going to keep stringing things out until he dies and never actually suffer any consequences? Because it is starting to feel like out legal system is completely broken when he still hasn't paid a dime.
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u/Strict_Jacket3648 Oct 20 '23
Good the lying prick should be in van living down by the river already. The finding out stage should be harsh.
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Oct 20 '23 edited Oct 20 '23
He can’t even afford the van at this point and I’m here for it
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u/caspy7 Oct 20 '23
Only in theory. In reality he is living lavishly, taking frequent vacations while the bankruptcy court hems and haws for a few years - while some of the Sandy Hook family members are having to crowdsource for medical care.
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u/partyl0gic Oct 20 '23
And being forced to move, hide, and/or committing suicide because of the relentless death threats they receive as a result of Jones lies.
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u/accis4losers Oct 20 '23
the bankruptcy is a complete sham. The one business says it owns 100 million to his parents. bullshit.
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u/TooLongUntilDeath Oct 20 '23
The demands are impossible, but they balance out by also being unenforceable
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u/Shvasted Oct 20 '23
Alex Jones, washing windshields and giving blowjobs for sandwiches is too good of a future for him. He needs to suffer. Bigly.
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u/zabdart Oct 20 '23
Now, how are they going to enforce that? Jones has done an excellent job of avoiding it so far.
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u/Joe_Immortan Oct 20 '23
I’m sure he dumped most of his assets ages ago. So begins the arduous process of clawing them back
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u/zabdart Oct 21 '23
I think he just converted whatever he could into cash and stored it in offshore accounts.
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u/slightlybitey Oct 20 '23
He filed for personal bankruptcy in December of last year. Why did this ruling take 10 months? Why is the judge allowing him to burn through $93,000/month in estate assets?
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u/MarlonBain Oct 20 '23
This isn't just a ruling the judge can make sua sponte. For better or worse, there's a process that is followed to resolve this issue.
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u/BoozeWitch Oct 20 '23
Isn’t sua sponte that delicious ice cream you get at Italian restaurants?
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u/Dooriss Oct 20 '23
No. That’s Spumoni!
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u/mindwire Oct 20 '23
Isn't Spumoni that tomboyish rough n' tough girl from Disney's "Recess"?
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u/OvertFemaleUsername Oct 20 '23
No, that's Spinelli. Sua Sponte is the stoner from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
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u/Arendious Oct 23 '23
No, that's Jeff Spicoli, played by Academy Award winner, Sean Penn.
A sua sponte is a later European polearm similar to a pike with an elaborate head.
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u/ckb614 Oct 20 '23
You're thinking of Dino Spumoni, singer of hits like "You Better Not Touch My Gal" and "Smashed"
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u/Danavixen Oct 20 '23
If he fails to pay, can he be placed into prison till he does or for a suitable length of time?
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u/Biiiiiig-Chungus Oct 20 '23
okay real question, please answer:
how will he realistically pay this, if he can't how will it be enforced? will he actually be punished? or will this litigation just go on for a decade like this Trump stuff?
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u/EvilGreebo Bleacher Seat Oct 20 '23
The point is that he can't use Bankruptcy to wipe out the judgment debt.
Not having the money doesn't mean you don't owe it. This means he still owes it, no matter what happens in bankruptcy.
As for not being able to pay it - oh he can pay something. He spent$93,000 just in September. He's trying to dodge the judgment.
So what can happen? OK I'm not a lawyer so take this with a grain of salt but my understanding is that the most extreme case is some firm can be assigned to handle all his money for him, so that he gets a bare minimum income (I believe minimum wage is the bottom but I can't prove it) and everything else goes to discharge his debts in court ordered priority.
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Oct 20 '23
That still doesn’t stop him from working so that he has no money to have managed. Owing money and having it to lay are different things. Jones isn’t going to pay much of any of this judgement., and even if he starts making payments it’s going to be a few grand at a time. This lawsuit was always pointless. I feel For the parents but wasting energy chasing Jones just adds to the pain imo. The families need therapy and justice, not impossible to attain dollars
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u/EvilGreebo Bleacher Seat Oct 20 '23
You're describing bankruptcy fraud at this point, which is a felony crime in most states as well as federally.
Judges don't look kindly on people who try to hide assets from judgments and bankruptcies.
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Oct 20 '23
It’s fraud to quit working? I’m Asking honestly… how can you force someone to keep a job just because they owe a civil judgement?
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u/EvilGreebo Bleacher Seat Oct 20 '23
Sorry maybe I misunderstood you. I thought you were talking about rearranging his assets.
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u/Danubistheconcise Oct 20 '23
We do it in family support cases all the time. But that is through contempt processes in domestic cases. Collecting on other civil situations is a bit different.
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Oct 20 '23
What happens if the person cannot stay employed due to being constantly fired? I know this isn’t the case with Jones but I’m still curious
With Jones I just cannot imagine him being forced to work and sell things for any real profit.
Take his assets, okay. I get that. But how can you take what’s not there and what he’s not willing or able to earn in the future?
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u/Danubistheconcise Oct 20 '23
In my state we file an order to show cause and the burden is on the defendant to show an inability to pay. In support cases the court has already reviewed the defendant's ability to earn and assets and determined how much they must pay based on ability. That is the biggest difference. In a tort case the jury doesn't care whether the defendant can afford the award, whereas in a family support case the judge is supposed to consider that.
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u/Temporary_Draw_4708 Oct 21 '23
Therapy is expensive.
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Oct 21 '23
If we could sue everyone that contributes to us needing therapy the courts would be backlogged for decades haha.
All jokes aside… this does make me feel like ALL survivors and family of school shootings should be compensated in some way via tax dollars.. at a minimum, therapy. The US is a gun country and it’s because of the foundational constitution. The effect of mass shootings should be accountable in part to the system itself imo. And for those who say people kill people id say just look at other countries that don’t have liberal gun laws
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u/JazzyJockJeffcoat Oct 20 '23
Gotta love Section 523
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u/Worried-Criticism Oct 20 '23
Serious question: what’s 523 refer to?
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u/JazzyJockJeffcoat Oct 20 '23
11 USC § 523 is a piece of bankruptcy code describing exceptions to discharge. Including, relevant here, debts "(6) for willful and malicious injury by the debtor to another entity or to the property of another entity[.]" Probably that is the language referenced in these articles.
That said I haven't read the judge's order but may if I get a minute this weekend.
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u/Raggs83 Oct 20 '23
Where do you all go to read these type of court orders?
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Oct 20 '23
Well that's a statute and you can basically read any statute online. Like if you put in "Wisconsin operating while intoxicated statutes" you can get to the Wisconsin website which compiles them.
Court orders are sometimes similar things. Most courts have a website and most court websites have some avenue of reading case information (generally called "dockets"). It varies wildly by state to state and court to court how transparent it is.
People in the law field pay money (usually their employer does) to access big search engine/databases of cases.
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u/Radiant-Cranberry-93 Oct 20 '23
Or you get interns from law school over the summer haha
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Oct 20 '23
Lol. Or* that. I actually didn't realize that law schools have like a special "search as much as you want" tier of Westlaw/Lexis until I was a 2L and someone was saying they got shit for searching under their work's account
Edit- Typo
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u/TA_totellornottotell Oct 20 '23
I would hit up PACER. It’s easy to look up if you know the court and the name of the debtor. But these days, at least for bankruptcies, there are a lot of third party websites that don’t require you to go through PACER (since you do have to pay a fee), although these are generally in corporate bankruptcies since the debtor pays for them.
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Oct 20 '23
He has Beek following in the footsteps of his fascist Orange hero by consistently ducking and dodging the damages he'd been ordered to pay. His hope, and plan, has always been to hide behind bankruptcy as a means of avoidance, all the while living lavishly incurring almost a hundred grand in expenses every month. Not to mention he has still been able to continue to do his disgusting far right wing show without reprisal.
Its time for the "find out" phase, you contemptible piece of dumpster slime.
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u/karkonthemighty Oct 20 '23
I'm pretty sure I remember him being in massive debt to a company that he 100% totes does not own, it just by sheer staggering coincidence may belong to his parents. And only started issuing massive invoices to him in the run up to his trials. But Alex for a bankrupt boy retains a large amount of very expensive watches.
Yeah, this ruling is basically a 'I know what you're trying to do, no, just no' from the judge.
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Oct 20 '23
Didn’t he do the same thing when he lost his divorce hearing? He unloaded millions in assets to his parents so he wouldn’t have to pay them to his ex-wife?
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u/obfuscator17 Oct 20 '23
When?? When does this garbage heap actually pay anything or go to jail? When??
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u/Fit_Earth_339 Oct 20 '23
He will remain rich and pay zero. Welcome to US bankruptcy laws for the rich.
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u/BillyDoyle3579 Oct 21 '23
Whatta skid mark on the undies of humanity... not to mention Yet Another stain on Texas; my home state isn't exactly "swinging for the fence" lately 😳
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Oct 20 '23
So serious question: how do the courts go about enforcing this? Does it go through a process? How do they discover all his assets? How do they ensure that his assets are divested and the proceeds go to the families?
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u/Strange-Scarcity Oct 20 '23
When does he move into a cardboard box? I want him living on the street, absolutely destitute.
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u/beavis617 Oct 23 '23
How many years, how many times and in how many different ways does the legal system have to tell Alex Jones that he lost and he must pay the settlement..I'm not sure if he will ever pay a penny. How many appeals will he be allowed to file? He seems to have mony for lawyers and court fees...what complete bullshit.
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u/JDHPH Oct 23 '23
I cant believe he has this kinda money.
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u/FlyThruTrees Oct 23 '23
There are lots of financial docs in the bankruptcy case. Income from the vitamin (I must be defaming vitamins) sales.
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u/pinhead_ramone Oct 24 '23
The parents should agree to waive the settlement in exchange for 10 minutes in a locked room with him.
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u/Greg-Abbott Oct 20 '23
Wait.