Infowars Loses Appeal in Sandy Hook Defamation Lawsuit

By Jared Holt | September 4, 2019 8:30 am

Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist proprietor of Infowars, and his attorneys were denied an appeal regarding a lawsuit that alleges Infowars broadcast defamatory comments regarding the father of a child murdered in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The Texas Court of Appeals has ordered Infowars to “pay all costs” related to the botched appeal.

Infowars filed its now-dismissed appeal one day after Sandy Hook parent Neil Heslin filed a motion for contempt against Infowars as part of an ongoing legal battle against the outlet, which in 2017 broadcast claims that Heslin argued were meant to insinuate that he lied about holding his murdered son’s body and to subject him to harassment and emotional damage by those who believe Sandy Hook was a “false flag” conspiracy—a conspiracy theory advanced by the host of an Infowars program and amplified by Jones himself.

Heslin had filed a motion for expedited discovery and a motion for sanctions against defendants Jones, Infowars employee Owen Shroyer, Free Speech Systems LLC, and Infowars LLC, after it was revealed that Jones had ordered Infowars employees to remove “social media pages and video content relating to the Sandy Hook shooting” from the internet. Jones and his lawyers had previously filed a motion to have Heslin’s lawsuit dismissed under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, a 2011 Texas law meant to aid individuals facing a frivolous lawsuits, but the judge hearing the case agreed with Heslin’s argument that Infowars’ efforts to delete content relevant to his case had hampered his ability to respond to Infowars’ motion to dismiss.

A judge extended the hearing date on Infowars’ TCPA motion and ordered Infowars to respond to discovery requests. But when the deadline for discovery approached, Infowars made clear it did not intend to cooperate. Heslin filed a motion for contempt of court.

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.

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