HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Norm Pattis, a lawyer known for representing controversial figures like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, has been suspended from practicing law in Connecticut for six months. This disciplinary action stems from Pattis’s improper disclosure of confidential documents, including sensitive medical records of relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, to Jones’ legal team in Texas.
Judge Barbara Bellis delivered the ruling on Thursday, marking another chapter in the ongoing legal saga surrounding Jones and his false claims about the Sandy Hook tragedy. The suspension is directly linked to the families’ defamation lawsuit against Jones, who repeatedly propagated the hoax theory on his Infowars platform, ultimately leading to a court order for him to pay over $1.4 billion in damages following a Connecticut jury trial last year.
Judge Bellis stated that Pattis, based in New Haven, failed in his duty to protect the families’ private records. This failure was a direct violation of her court order, which restricted access to these documents to attorneys specifically involved in the Connecticut case. She described his actions as a profound lapse, using strong words like “abject failure” and “inexcusable.”
“Our justice system and legal professionals are not expected to be perfect, but they must uphold fundamental fairness and decency,” Judge Bellis emphasized in her written ruling. “The treatment of the plaintiffs’ most personal and sensitive information lacked both fairness and decency, and there is no justification for Mr. Pattis’ misconduct.”
Pattis has indicated his intention to appeal the suspension and seek a stay while the appeal process unfolds. A hearing regarding his request for a stay has been scheduled for January 13, according to Judge Bellis.
“We’re looking forward to appellate review,” Pattis stated in an email to The Associated Press, signaling his plan to challenge the disciplinary measures.
During an August hearing concerning potential disciplinary actions against Pattis for the document release, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, declining to answer questions. In previous court filings, Pattis maintained that there was no evidence of him breaching conduct rules and characterized the release of records as an “innocent mistake.”
Representatives for the Sandy Hook families have declined to comment on Pattis’s suspension at this time.
Currently, Pattis is also involved in the defense of a member of the Proud Boys group, who faces criminal charges related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. This trial is ongoing in Washington, D.C., and the implications of Pattis’s suspension on this case remain unclear. Pattis has confirmed that he has informed the Washington court about the disciplinary action taken against him.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012, resulted in the tragic deaths of twenty first-grade students and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut. Subsequently, relatives of eight victims, along with an FBI agent who responded to the scene, initiated a lawsuit against Jones and his Texas-based company, Free Speech Systems. The lawsuit cited defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress due to Jones’s hoax claims.
Plaintiffs in the defamation case recounted during a month-long trial the years of threats and harassment they endured from individuals who believed Jones’s false narratives. They detailed instances of strangers appearing at their homes, public confrontations, and a barrage of abusive messages, including death and rape threats, on social media and via email.
As part of the discovery process in the Connecticut case, lawyers for the Sandy Hook families provided Pattis with nearly 400,000 pages of documents. Among these were approximately 4,000 pages containing the plaintiffs’ private medical records. Judge Bellis had specifically restricted access to these sensitive records to legal counsel working on the Connecticut lawsuit.
However, in May of the previous year, Judge Bellis’s ruling revealed that Pattis’s office transmitted an external hard drive containing these records to a bankruptcy lawyer representing Jones and Free Speech Systems in Texas.
This bankruptcy lawyer, Kyung Lee, subsequently passed the hard drive to Andino Reynal, who was representing Jones and his company in a similar defamation lawsuit in Texas. This Texas lawsuit had been filed by the parents of another child who perished in the Sandy Hook tragedy. Reynal then proceeded to send the documents to the Sandy Hook families’ legal representatives in Texas.
The Texas trial concluded in the summer, with Jones being ordered to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents in that case.
Judge Bellis is also considering potential disciplinary action against Reynal, who is based in Houston, Texas, regarding his role in the document disclosure. Reynal has argued against disciplinary measures, claiming that a staff member at his firm mistakenly sent the records to the Sandy Hook families’ Texas lawyer.
Alex Jones has publicly stated his intention to appeal both the Connecticut and Texas verdicts. Furthermore, both Jones and Free Speech Systems are currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.
