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Monday, February 22, 2021

Mike Lindell has been sued for $1.3 billion. A lot of pillows, ya betcha. Strib reports. [UPDATED per Strib Feb. 23 content]

 Not a national feed carry, instead written locally:


Dominion Voting Systems files $1.3B defamation suit against Mike Lindell, MyPillow over spurious election fraud claims  - The federal lawsuit comes after weeks of warnings from the company and beckoning from Lindell for court action.

By Stephen Montemayor Star Tribune-February 22, 2021 — 8:32am

It is a brief well structured report, so readers should seek out the original.

For this post, only the closing is quoted:

Dominion has also sued Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell over their efforts to spread claims about the company in a bid to overturn the 2020 election. Before suing Lindell, the company sent the MyPillow executive at least three notices seeking retractions of his statements and warning of legal actions.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned to startribune.com for more throughout the day.

What that means is that two lawyers who have made names for themselves, Giuliani and Powell - (think what you will of the how and why they got there) - are basically disqualified from representing Lindell. Who's left? Who will be trial counsel for Lindell and his bedding firm with over a billion of alleged damages at issue? 

There are the Trump impeachment trial lawyers. They got the Senate to acquit. There's Wardlow. Wardlow is Lindell's personal attorney; and attorney for the My Pillow firm. There are many, many other choices. 

An opportunity for Doug Wardlow: With Wardlow wishing to be Minnesota Attorney General, this would be his chance to show his trial court chops. There is Andrew Parker, who handled the Monahan part of Wardlow's prior run against Ellison. Parker is an experienced and well regarded trial attorney. Might he take the case? If Wardlow were to defend, he'd gain name recognition. However, with a case that could consume much time and run past November 2022 before reaching any resolution, might Wardlow decline the chance?

Of course such questions are secondary to the base question everything hinges upon, can Lindell prove his claims?

UPDATE: While obvious, it helps to expressly say -- Presuming Lindell is not a fool, he would not have encouraged a suit against him and his firm without having his legal team set and ready. Without regard to who actually does the heavy lifting defense, surely Wardlow would have been active in helping Lindell ready himself for the fray. If Lindell and Wardlow decide Doug is up to the task alone or with co-counsel, Wardlow could make a national reputation for himself if Lindell were to prevail. 

As Strib's author wrote, it is an ongoing story, so stay tuned.

FURTHER: Another obvious point worth noting, this is now put up or shut up time for Lindell. With Wardlow having clearly tied his political future to Lindell, in a sense it is put up or shut up for him, also. Bleating "law and order" over and over again cannot remove the fact of his tie to Lindell and hence to allegation of election fraud in ways that the Trump white non-college male base embraces. For better or worse Wardlow has "married" Lindell's viewpoint by allying with him and accepting Lindell's paycheck. How that shakes out, net positive or net negative for Wardlow, will be clearer as time passes. The place and role of Wardlow in Lindell's adventures will be an ongoing reality, one well worth watching, however the two resolve future moves.

FURTHER: The AP feed on Lindell being sued is carried online here. In closing of that coverage, a single sentence:

Lindell told the AP: "You bring it on, Dominion, because I want everybody to see."

Hence it seems that the likelihood of a settlement at present seems dim, at best. 

Also in the Chan.5 report, "Lindell and MyPillow's general counsel, Doug Wardlow, did not immediately return messages seeking comment Monday." That is to be expected. A hope is that as soon as the Lindell/My Pillow camp files a notice of appearance that event will draw press reporting. Again, we have to presume Lindell's approach included setting a legal team at ready. So that counsel would be able to be prompt in appearing in defense.

____________FURTHER UPDATE____________

Tuesday, Feb. 23, Strib updated its Lindell-litigation report, new info including:

 On Monday, Lindell remained defiant.

"They sued Sidney [Powell] two months ago and they haven't done a thing to her. This is all smoke and mirrors and just a big play for them," Lindell said.

Yet a significant delay in Powell's case comes after the company had to hire private investigators after Powell "evaded service of process for weeks," according to a court filing. On Monday, Dominion attorneys told reporters that they hope Lindell follows through on his own previously stated desire for a speedy legal process.

Speaking just after Dominion filed its suit, Lindell described having marshaled a defense team that he called his "offense" and seemed ready to engage in court. Lindell declined to say who would be representing him in the lawsuit. Doug Wardlow, a Republican who announced recently that he would again challenge Attorney General Keith Ellison in 2022, is Lindell's general counsel.

"I've been gathering evidence," said Lindell. "I already have my defense, I already have my evidence. I don't even have to do one more thing."

[italics added] What can be concluded is that neither Lindell nor his firm has filed a notice of appearance since such notice would identify chief litigation counsel as well, possibly, as other support counsel or a firm handling things. Often motions practice lead counsel can differ from trial lead counsel. Will Lindell and Dominion have a "If the glove don't fit ..." moment in things? It surely would make better theater if Johnny Cochran were still alive and a part of Lindell's litigation legion. Will LIndell's funding capacity for a defense spill over to benefit others Dominion is suing? Will Powell and/or Rudy fall on a sword with Lindell skating? Or some different outcome, since similarities and differences apply?

Also, has Lindell's position been that voting fraud occured, simply that, or is he alleging massive fraud altered the outcome of the election. His proof burden to back up assertions he has published would be greater the closer he comes to "Trump won, Stop the Steal." It seems he is keen to assert there was sufficient fraud to alter the election from a Trump win to a Biden certification by electors and various state elections officials all of whom have publicly asserted that no significant fraud happened. We wait to see how big a corner Lindell has painted himself into. 

Strib's item links to the Dominion 100+ page complaint, should any reader want to go there. Lindell seems to be redirecting heat from Powell and Rudy, to himself, with his "bring it on" bravado. Wardlow's role, if any, remains unclear.