Alex Jones Update
Okay, let me bring you up to speed. Most of y’all remember Andino Reynal, the 12th in a random line of unreservedly incompetent trial lawyers willing to cripple their reputation and bar license for the fame and fortune of representing Alex Jones. (By the way, only one of them resigned, explaining to the court that Jones had asked him to do illegal hanky panky. From there forward the new lawyers tried to blame their own mistakes on the only guy with guts. They were pretty much lower than a snake’s belly in a wheel rut.)
So Andino Reynal has the bad luck of being the last lawyer standing at the time of trial. According to opposing counsel, Reynal made cocky personal threats and taunts outside the courthouse before trial even began. It came to pass that Reynal was the only man I have ever seen who could strut sitting down. (You can watch opposing counsel explain it here – it starts at about 17 minutes in and last a couple of minutes.)
Reynal’s courtroom performance, including releasing two years worth of Jones’ text messages, emails, and assorted other silliness made national late night comedian fodder, and at one point included giving the bird to opposing counsel and physically threatening him.
All the delaying tactics and courtroom hijinks were costly and painful the the family suing Jones, not even to mention an affront to the legal system. So at the end of trial opposing counsel filed for court sanctions against Reynal personally for his unjustified tactics. It’s not often done, but this case deserved it, especially after it was discovered that Reynal was charging Jones $700 an hour so he had economic interest in delaying the trial without appropriate justification for doing so.
The judge agreed. On April 25th, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble wrote …
Reynal made “knowingly groundless statements,” “acted in bad faith,” and “significantly interfered with the Court’s legitimate exercise of core functions,” when he represented Jones throughout his July 2022 trial against Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, according to Gamble’s January order granting the motion to sanction Reynal.
You can read the whole order here. It’s only two pages long but it packs maximum punch. She granted sanctions of a little over $97,000 and an additional $116,000 if he appeals and loses. She gave him 30 days to either file an appeal or to send a check to the law firm of opposing counsel.
[Morgan] Stringer, the legal analyst, said Reynal’s nearly $100,000 sanction is a rarity in the legal world.
“I would say it’s rare to see an attorney sanctioned in this manner and with that dollar amount,” Stringer said. “I have never seen that.”
Stringer added that despite the rare sanction, the ruling is a fair one.
Reynal immediately said he was going to appeal. He just sounded damn indignant about it.
Well, my guess is that it boiled down to this. An appeal is a crap shoot. You’re gonna win or lose, and with a case of this fame, odds are you’re gonna eat dirt. All you’re doing is buying time for your check writing. My guess is that Reynal is far more willing to gamble or even stall with Alex Jones’ money than his own.
Sure ‘nuff, Reynal’s check arrive at the law firm before the end of the 30 days. The parents take some happiness in receiving Reynal’s personal check, which they immediately deposited in their nonprofit.
If you want more background, the Huffington Post has most of it here. Sebastian Murdock has followed the case closely.
I sense we will be seeing Reynal on some late night TV ads for class action suits or truck wrecks.
1Well done! I’m sure Little Bubba is unable to wipe the smile off his face–even when he should.
2Legendary work done by Mark and his team!! Looking forward to the remaining two cases referenced in the video.
3Something I wondered about after the brutal (but justified) judgment against Jones is if he’d find another lowyer that would try to appeal the judgment because of incompetent representation. It happens in criminal cases but don’t know about civil cases. I suppose that would fail miserably as well since the evidence in the judgement was so overwhelming and all Alex Jones doing.
At $700/hour (nice work if you can get it!) and 40 hours per week, in 30 days he can bill AJ for $112000. Plus I’m sure he’d try to bill for 80 hours per week, because gosh darn it, that poor lawyer just worked himself to the bone on the case. That hard work showed up in his sterling courtroom performance.
So yup, I can see this genius lawyer waiting until the last minute to pay up.
4Lady Karma takes another delicious bite out of Reynal’s butt while we dine on Schadenfreude hoping to chase it with glasses of Rudy and TFG accompanied by croquettes of anyone remotely associated with that cabal.
Huge shout out those and THANK YOU to Mr. Mark Bankston, Esq and those responsible for dragging Alex Jones to justice!
5One wonders whether the Texas State Bar will start disciplinary actions, as is usual for sanctions of that type. My guess is not, due to the Founding Fathers’ bedrock legal principle of IOKIYAR.
6And in other legal news: Guiliani’s lawyer quits, saying Rudi refuses to submit documents and (more importantly) pay him. It’s a perfect circle of jerks: the lawyer (Castor) was Trump’s attorney in one of his impeachments, and refused to charge Bill Cosby when he was first accused of sexual assault. And his current client reached his peak at a landscaping company:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rudy-giulianis-election-fraud-lawyer-bruce-castor-cant-stand-him-anymore
These guys really deserve each other ….
7Absolutely love the updates.
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