The 海角换妻 Appellate Court on Friday affirmed a against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, determining there's 鈥渟ufficient evidence鈥� to support the damages awarded to relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims and an FBI agent.
In its unanimous opinion, the court cited the 鈥渢raumatic threats and harassment鈥� the families endured 鈥渟temming from the lies, as propagated by the defendants, that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.鈥�
鈥淥ur review of the record reveals that there was sufficient evidence to support the $965,000,000 in compensatory damages awarded by the jury,鈥� according to the 62-page decision. It marks the largest jury verdict in 海角换妻 history.
The appellate court did grant Jones a $150 million reprieve. It determined the plaintiffs 鈥渇ailed to assert a legally viable鈥� claim under the 海角换妻 Unfair Trade Practices Act and that $150 million in punitive damages awarded by the lower court must be vacated, noting the plaintiffs alleged injury came from false language and not from speech related to advertising, marketing or the sale of goods.
鈥淲e鈥檙e relieved that the Court protected the press with its decision reversing the damages in the unfair trade practices claim, but we are otherwise disappointed," said Norm Pattis, Jones' attorney, in a statement. He said the jury in the case was 鈥渟old a bill of goods and led to believe鈥� Jones made millions spreading conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook mass shooting.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛. The jury was also encouraged to believe that all the sorrow that befell the plaintiffs was Mr. Jones鈥檚 fault. It wasn鈥檛.," Pattis said. 鈥淲e had hoped the Appellate Court would have seen through the charade and farce that this trial became. It didn鈥檛.鈥�
Jones now owes a total of roughly $1.2 billion, counting the $965 million to the 海角换妻 families and nearly $50 million awarded by a Texas jury to the parents of a Sandy Hook child who was killed.
Jones filed for personal bankruptcy in 2022, and the sale of his Infowars platform is part of that case. A bid by The Onion satirical news outlet to buy Infowars is scheduled to return Monday to a Texas courtroom, where a judge will be deciding whether a was properly run. Jones alleges collusion and fraud.
Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families hailed the 海角换妻 appellate court's ruling on Friday as an overall victory.
鈥淭oday, Alex Jones鈥檚 effort to overturn the jury鈥檚 historic verdict against him and his corrupt business, Infowars, was unanimously rejected by the 海角换妻 Appellate Court. The jury鈥檚 $965 million rebuke of Jones will stand, and the families who have fought valiantly for years have brought Alex Jones yet another step closer to true justice,鈥� the lawyers said in a statement.
Pattis said he will ask the 海角换妻 Supreme Court to review the appellate court decision.
Jones repeatedly told his millions of followers was staged by 鈥渃risis actors鈥� to enact more gun control.
The appellate court also determined that a lower court 鈥減roperly exercised its discretion" in finding Jones and his Infowars' parent company Free Speech Systems LLC., liable for damages by default for failing to cooperate with court rules on sharing evidence.
