Here's the latest in defamation suits against right-wing zealots who think they can say whatever shit pops into their brains. This time it's Kari Lake, who ran for governor in Arizona:
Stephen Richer, the top election official in Maricopa county, sued Lake, her campaign and an aligned Pac last year after she lost her gubernatorial bid and repeatedly lied about him. Lake, who is now running for the US Senate, falsely accused him of injecting 300,000 illegal votes into machines and intentionally misprinting ballots so they would be rejected by ballot tabulators.
Lake hasn't officially lost this defamation suit, but in a court filing she said she will no longer try to show that her claims were true. Instead, she wants to move straight to damages.
For the record, Lake is saying she concedes nothing and has "demanded" a hearing "for Stephen to prove how my words harmed him." Brave words! But I suspect it won't be too hard to show harm. She's gonna lose and the award is going to be substantial.
The full list of successful defamation suits against right-wing nutballs has been updated here.
"But I suspect it won't be too hard to show harm."
A stack of printed out death threats might do it.
Lol!!
But I guess it’s not funny🙁
Alas, courts have decided that isn't a harm, or a cost, somehow.
has "demanded" a hearing
i recently demanded that the irs process my tax returns
that'll show 'em not to fuck with me
From a local news report:
Richer said he has no problem with Lake comparing herself to the former president in this situation.
“She keeps saying that this is like the Fox News case, or this is like Rudy Giuliani’s case, or this is like Donald Trump’s case,” he said. “Well, all of those wound up being north of $50 million, so we’re fine with those comparisons.”
See this is why we need to get rid of all these WOKE "lawyers" and "courts" and start enforcing JUSTICE the AMERICAN way: with a gun and a posse!
Hopefully she has to pay through the teeth. As a Republican, I’m so sick of the straight up lying.
Doesn't this also mean Lake would rather lose the lawsuit than provide a deposition under oath?
That's part of it, along with the phone records and emails and other stuff that would have to be provided to the court under discovery. It was this process that absolutely wrecked Fox News' case, since it became clear they knew they were lying all along. I'm pretty sure it would be the same with Mrs. Lake.
But it's *possible* that she's a true believer, in which case the discovery process might show evidence of actual criminality and not just civil liability.
Yes. This is an attempt to limit her damages by not responding to discovery and making damaging information public. Saying she concedes nothing is gratuitous. She's admitting liability.
I also wonder what the chances are of big money paying all or most of any damages incurred by a made (wo)man with a bright future in American authoritarianism. Unless she does what Alex Jones, et al do and just says "make me" when it comes to actually paying up.
In all such cases, they back off when perjury is at stake.