U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez rejected the settlement at a hearing in Houston, saying the families were asking him to also divide up the assets of Infowars’ parent company Free Speech Systems, despite the fact that the company had been dismissed from bankruptcy last year.

“I can’t do that,” Lopez said. “That case is closed."

Courts in Connecticut and Texas, where some of the families filed their lawsuits, have ruled Jones defamed the families by making repeated false claims that the school shooting, which killed 20 students and six staff members in Newton, Connecticut, was staged as part of a government plot to take guns away from Americans.