Conspiracy theorist and lawsuit magnet Alex Jones lost another legal battle last week when a court struck down an appeal related to a defamation lawsuit against him and his fearmongering website Infowars.
Infowars and Jones are defendants in a lawsuit brought by Neil Heslin, the father of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was one of 20 children and six adults killed when a gunman stormed Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. In the years since the shooting, Heslin and other Sandy Hook parents have received death threats and online harassment from followers of Jones’ Infowars website, which over the years has repeatedly claimed the shooting was a hoax and the parents are “crisis actors.” Infowars contributor Owen Shroyer is also named in the lawsuit.
In the latest court filing, the Texas Court of Appeals ordered Infowars to “pay all costs” related to the failed appeal that Infowars filed against Heslin, who is being represented by Mark Bankston of the Texas law firm Farrar & Ball. Previously, Heslin filed a motion of contempt in the case after the website refused to comply with a court-ordered demand to hand over internal emails and documents related to discussions about Sandy Hook.
Now the website will pay up in addition to handing over the information. As Right Wing Watch first pointed out:
Lawyers for Infowars argued that because defendants had appeared in court regarding their motion to dismiss, they were not required to comply with the discovery process. The Texas Court of Appeals disagreed with Infowars’ interpretation of Texas law and tossed the appeal.
Currently, nine family members of loved ones who died in the shooting are suing Jones, who previously tried and failed to get a defamation lawsuit brought on by parents Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa dismissed.
In March, video deposition of Jones was released that saw him in the hot seat as he attempted to answer questions about his many falsehoods regarding the shooting. It did not go well for him.