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A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, will go to trial. The trio made allegations that the company rigged voting machines to convert votes.
In a 44-page opinion, Judge Carl Nichols, laid out the trio’s claims, how they could be considered defamatory, and why the case will not be dismissed.
“Dominion has adequately alleged that Powell made a number of statements that are actionable because a reasonable juror could conclude that they were either statements of fact or statements of opinion that implied or relied upon facts that are probably false,” the judge wrote.
“Powell cannot shield herself from liability for her widely disseminated out-of-court statements by casting them as protected statements about in-court litigation; an attorney’s out-of-court statements to the public can be actionable, even if those statements concern contemplated or ongoing litigation,” Nichols said.
Attorney’s for Powell and Lindell says that their clients’ election fraud allegations are protected speech.
Lindell was not too happy about the ruling.
“You can get sued for everything now,” the salesman said during a conference in South Dakota on Wednesday.
Giuliani, Lindell, and Powell continuously made claims that Dominion committed fraud during the 2020 Presidential election after being told that what they were saying was not true. This is an important aspect of Dominion’s defamation lawsuits.
According to Cornell Law School, to prove defamation a plaintiff must prove without a doubt that a false statement under the guise of truth was made; proof of that statement; details of damages and harm caused.
Lindell continues to make claims that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. The MyPillow CEO uses his claims to sell his products.
“[I]n addition to alleging that Lindell’s claims are inherently improbable, that his sources are unreliable, and that he has failed to acknowledge the validity of countervailing evidence, Dominion has alleged numerous instances in which Lindell told audiences to purchase MyPillow products after making his claims of election fraud and providing MyPillow promotional codes related to those theories,” Nichols wrote.
Nichols says that Dominion “has adequately alleged that Lindell made his claims knowing that they were false or with reckless disregard for the truth.”
Earlier this week, Dominion filed lawsuits against Newsmax and One America News Network for defamation.
