As Alex Jones’ lawyer plans an appeal, attorneys for the Sandy Hook shooting victims’ families are looking to recover payments and seek punitive damages.
When the verdict came down in the Alex Jones defamation case, there was an outpouring of emotion from families of the victims in the Sandy Hook school shooting.
The jury determined Jones and his company would pay out nearly $1 billion for spreading a conspiracy that the shooting was a hoax.
Matt Blumenthal, trial attorney for Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, stood beside the plaintiffs in the case that day. He filed the original complaint more than four years ago. Now, Blumenthal said the legal fight for his clients continues, even after the verdict has come down.
"We will follow Alex Jones and his assets to the ends of the earth, leave no stone unturned, to recover every dime possible for these plaintiffs because they deserve it,” Blumenthal said. "There are a number of legal mechanisms at our disposal, and we'll use every single one of them to the utmost."
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Now that the jury has determined Jones and his company must pay $965 million in compensatory damages, Blumenthal said the focus for the plaintiffs’ attorneys turns to recovering that money.
“We've already been involved in bankruptcy proceedings related to Alex Jones' company in Texas,” he said. “We also have an what's called ‘Fraudulent Transfers Act’ litigation ongoing in Texas, based on some of the transfers he's engaged in to try to hide assets, we believe."
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The legal team is also seeking punitive damages for the plaintiffs. They are doing that under The Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, or CUTPA, a law stating that any person who suffers a measurable loss of money or property due to an unfair or deceptive act prohibited by CUTPA may bring action to recover that loss.
Blumenthal cannot say how much the legal team is seeking, but expects all relevant punitive damages to bring the total judgment well over $1 billion.
“These people, these wonderful people had their safety, their security, their grief, their loved ones, memories stolen from them,” Blumenthal said. “This verdict is a chance for them to get that back.”
When Blumenthal filed the original complaint in May of 2018, he wrote that Sandy Hook victims’ families and survivors accused of being crisis actors dealt with verbal assaults, physical confrontations and death threats. The complaint states some were videotaped alongside their children by strangers, and some moved as far as 3,000 miles cross-country to avoid harassment.
“This is a common phenomenon now. Individuals who've lost loved ones in mass shootings have been faced with this sort of harassment,” Blumenthal said.
Today, he hopes the verdict in the defamation case sets a precedent for other families that will suffer loss due to mass shootings in America.
"We're hopeful that this result will bring vindication and solace not only to the families we represent, but will also let Alex Jones and all the people like him across the country in the world know that they will be held accountable if they engage in this sort of misconduct again,” Blumenthal said.
Alex Jones' attorney Norm Pattis did not respond to NBC Connecticut’s requests for comment on next steps in the legal process. After the jury’s decision last week, he spoke outside of Waterbury Superior Court.
“Today is a very, very, very dark day for freedom of speech,” Pattis said.
Pattis said last Wednesday that the $965 million payout was much more than Jones’ legal team expected, and they plan to appeal the decision.
“We disagree with the court’s evidentiary rulings. In more than 200 trials in the course of my career, I have never seen a trial like this. And we very, very much look forward to an appeal," he said.
Pattis told reporters he feels the victims’ families have been weaponized for political purposes, and his heart goes out to them.
