A Texas state appeals court has reduced a defamation judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones by more than $40 million, but the Infowars founder still faces over $1 billion in damages from multiple lawsuits stemming from his false claims about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
The ruling, issued Friday, threw out most of a Texas award that had initially amounted to nearly $50 million. The court determined that a portion of that award vastly exceeded the state's legal cap on punitive damages, reducing it from more than $40 million to $1.5 million. Approximately $6 million of the original Texas judgment remains intact.
Despite this reduction, the finding of defamation against Jones was not overturned. Jones, who filed for bankruptcy in 2022 amid mounting judgments, characterized the Texas ruling as a significant victory for free speech and indicated his intention to continue appeals. "I got lawyers who are good constitutional lawyers, and they are not backing down," Jones stated.
This Texas ruling has no bearing on a separate, larger judgment of more than $1.4 billion awarded in a Connecticut lawsuit, which was later reduced by about $150 million during appeals. Jones' attempt to appeal that judgment to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied last year.
"The families care not at all about this irrelevant ruling which affects only two of the 19 claims they all share. Jones still faces over a billion dollars of liability, so this changes absolutely nothing. All it does is highlight the absurdity of Texas law," said Mark Bankston, an attorney for the families in the Texas case.
Relatives of the 20 first graders and six educators killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting sued Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, in both Connecticut and Texas. They alleged defamation and infliction of emotional distress, asserting that Jones propagated false claims that the shooting was staged by "crisis actors" to advance gun control agendas. Victims' families testified that Jones' followers subjected them to death and rape threats, harassment, and abusive online comments.
Jones, who has since conceded under oath that the shooting did occur, argued there was no proof directly linking him to the harassment faced by the families.
Jones has promoted various conspiracy theories for decades, including claims related to the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks. His Infowars platform grew significantly over the years, expanding from a small home broadcast to a company with multiple studios and a warehouse for merchandise sales.
The Sandy Hook families have not yet collected any money from Jones, as he pursues lengthy appeals. Jones took Infowars off the air in April. A proposed deal that would allow the satirical website The Onion to temporarily manage Infowars' intellectual property has been paused during Jones' appeals. The Onion has, however, launched its own Infowars parody website, selling merchandise with proceeds directed to the Sandy Hook families.