D.C. District Court Rules Dominion Defamation Lawsuits Can Proceed
A judge denied motions to dismiss voting machine company Dominion’s defamation suits against Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Lindell for their claims that it was involved in 2020 election fraud.
Published by The Lawfare Institute
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On Wednesday, Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied in full motions to dismiss defamation suits brought by Dominion, a U.S. voting machine and voting software company, against Sidney Powell and her firm, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Lindell and his company My Pillow, over claims they made relating to Dominion’s alleged involvement in fraud during the 2020 presidential election. The suits were not consolidated, but have been designated as related cases, allowing Nichols to address the motions in the three separate cases with one memorandum opinion and order. Defendants claimed that they had substantive evidence to support election fraud claims, including that Dominion was complicit in foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election. Each defendant made different arguments for dismissal, including assertions that venue was improper in the case, that Dominion failed to state a claim or appropriately plead damages to recover lost profit, and that statements implicating Dominion are part of “public debate” or are simply opinions not subject to defamation liability. Nichols rejected all these arguments, allowing Dominion’s defamation suits to proceed.
You can read the full memorandum opinion here or below:
