Rudy Giuliani hit with $148M verdict for defaming two Georgia election workers
Rudy Giuliani hit with $148M verdict for defaming two Georgia election workers
An attorney for Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, had urged the eight-person jury to “send a message” with its verdict.
An attorney for Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, had urged the eight-person jury to “send a message” with its verdict.
Rudy Giuliani should pay a pair of Georgia election workers he repeatedly and falsely accused of fraud $148 million in damages, a federal jury said Friday.
The eight-person jury awarded Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, the sum after a four-day trial, during which they testified that Giuliani’s lies in support of former President Donald Trump’s bogus stolen-election claims subjected them to a torrent of racist and violent threats and turned their lives upside down.
Freeman testified Wednesday that she was terrorized by Trump supporters and forced to move from her home because of Giuliani’s smears. “I was scared to come home at dark, you know,” a visibly emotional Freeman said on the witness stand. “I was just scared, I knew I had to move.”
Has Alex Jones paid out a penny yet?
Will Rudy?
These guys seem to be able to ignore these judgements with impunity.
I am shocked that his attorney acknowledged wrongdoing. That'll fuck any appeal attempts.
140Rudy probably can't pay that anyway, he's been in a bad way financially for a while now.
45You would have to wonder if he was a just a regular Joe blow fellow if he would be in jail in till he could pay?
19No. Genuinely poor people are what the legal world refers to as judgment proof. Best you can do is garnish wages, which I doubt Rudy has any. You can also put a lien on property, but if they don't have any, you get nothing.
16
Alex filed for bankruptcy, so he hasn't paid anything yet. The families recently said they'd settle for 6% but I haven't seen anything since.
12He filed for bankruptcy but last I heard the bankruptcy court found his judgement in the Sandy Hook case couldn't be discharged through bankruptcy. So he still owes. It'll just be a long drawn out affair to chase down his hidden assets.
22
He'll have to squeeze a whole lot of crude oil from his head to cover that.
54Nine figures, baby. Suck it, Ghoul.
47I'm sure #45 will gladly cover it for him, NOT. LoL
9He doesn't like losers checks 45s court cases in recent years lol. For a guy that doesn't like losing, he's not President, least for now. I truly hope people come out to vote again like last time. Not my country but it'd be nice to have stability for democracy from the country with the strongest military.
9
The dildo of consequences has finally arrived.
1
"After the verdict, Giuliani said he didn't testify because he was worried the judge would find him in contempt, and complained that he hadn't been allowed to enter evidence that his allegations were true, despite his not having turned over any such evidence before trial"
Just wow. Guess there's a difference between what you're willing to tell a reporter on the street and what you're willing to tell the judge in court?
41If I'm reading this correctly, Rudy had "evidence" but the court had ruled it inadmissible.
I mean, I have a document right now that says Rudy Giuliani is the zodiac killer. Signed by Jesus and everything.
Don't mean it will hold up in court where there are procedures.
It's the same in Trump's trial. He was barred from using his "buyer beware" clause as an argument because it doesn't hold legal water.
14
He acknowledged in his closing argument that “my client has committed wrongful conduct against” the pair and had “harmed” them, but asked the jury to keep in mind the good Giuliani had done in his lifetime.
He told them the message he believed they should send is, “You should have been better, but you’re not as bad as the plaintiffs are making you out to be.”
This has to be the worst closing argument ever. This might work if say, a teacher commits a drink driving offense, or a crosswalk attendant steals some laundry detergent, but "think of all the good" that this sycophant did in his life is just going to inspire heavier penalties.
36But look at it from the defense's perspective. He's guilty AF and there's no denying it. What play could that make other than to try a humanitarian appeal? It's pretty clearly not going to work, but as his defense council they have to try.
I hope they get to seize his houses and they move in right away.
9What play could that make
Oh I don't know, perhaps contrition?
1
It was the only argument Rudy could make. He refused to provide discovery as part of an overall litigation strategy to hide his assets and got sanctioned with an adverse finding on liability. The only thing to argue to the jury was the amount of damages.
5
Someone should keep a running total of how much they all collectively will never pay.
36Alot!
Huge! Bigly!
0
Can somebody familiar with the US legal system explain how these massive damage verdicts work?
- Are they proportional to the publicity of the offence, the wealth of the parties? I'm happy it happens to Giulani but it doesn't make much sense to me... It seems hugely excessive for this kind of offence
- Does anybody actually expect anyone to pay that amount?
23From the reporting I read, the huge cost is driven by the need for a ‘counter-messaging’ campaign to debunk the existing, repeated libel committed by Rudy. Given how his words were broadcast wide and often, the claimants will have to basically keep a PR team employed for several years until her name is restored or forgotten - which is very expensive.
There’s absolutely the usual pain and undue suffering award as well, but that’s not what ballooned this judgment
20There was threats against them also right? So maybe relocating, some kind of on-call security or something, IDK.
2
Juries have a LOT of discretion regarding damages in civil cases. The damages are what the 12 jurors say it is.
15The actual damages is how much money would it reasonably take to undo the damage done to the wronged party.
Pain and Suffering is compensation for the distress the damage caused
Punitive damages are a way for the jury to punish the accused for the moral repugnancy of what they did
5To your point about being expected to pay that amount:
Ken Frydman, a former spokesman for Giuliani during his 1993 mayoral campaign, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” that while it’s not likely Giuliani will be able to pay the entire judgment, “it sends a message and sets a precedent for the other defamation cases.”
3
for defaming two Georgia election workers
Ladies and gentlemen, "America's Mayor"
22What is the impact of this? It seems like whenever a political person is hit with a huge fine in the US, they never pay a penny of it. And furthermore, it seems like they just live their life in luxury, untouched by the massive amount of money they owe.
I just don't understand. In other countries, I'd expect the criminal behind bars - especially if they won't pay. What kafkaesque bureaucratic shithole set of laws allow this?
18That would be an interesting metric. "Republican deficit" - the sum of money owed by individual Republican agents (politicians and ex-politicians) through civil suits. Compare it to the "Democratic deficit" and see what kind of numbers we're talking.
6It's civil and against him personally, he'll be paying it or they'll be back in court seeking additional damages. Criminal law is different and yes oftentimes the government will accept a small percentage of what's actually owed usually 20%-ish.
4The only way to answer this question is to investigate the circumstances of specific examples.
Generally, the person just doesn't have the money. If Giuliani bought his nephew $100m in shares 10 years ago, who's to say those shares do not in fact belong to the nephew.
1
Donny will surely cover this expense, right?
¯\(ツ)/¯
15Glad to see it. I'm curious as to what that means practically. Does the court have the ability to force him to pay or can he just drag his feet indefinitely?
13He'll probably appeal it, and he doesn't have the money anyway. Might move to Florida to protect his pension from being garnished.
11He still does apparently at least have millions in assets though. And that sweet pension.
5Might move to Florida to protect his pension
Maybe he can be roommates with O.J.
4
Ultimately the courts can force him to pay some of it if he has any real property or other assets or income. But that will likely require more work on the part of the plaintiffs here to collect. It'll probably only be a fraction of what is owed, and then part of that is attorneys fees.
7
👏
10Suck on that, you bitchass trick!
8This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON — Rudy Giuliani should pay a pair of Georgia election workers he repeatedly and falsely accused of fraud $148 million in damages, a federal jury said Friday.
The eight-person jury awarded Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, the sum after a four-day trial, during which they testified that Giuliani’s lies in support of former President Donald Trump’s bogus stolen-election claims subjected them to a torrent of racist and violent threats and turned their lives upside down.
Their attorney, Michael Gottlieb, said in his closing argument that Giuliani had “no right to offer up defenseless civil servants up to a virtual mob in order to overturn an election.” He urged the jurors to “send a message” with their verdict.
In his opening statement, Giuliani attorney Joseph Sibley said a large verdict would be the “civil equivalent of the death penalty” for his client.
He acknowledged in his closing argument that “my client has committed wrongful conduct against” the pair and had “harmed” them, but asked the jury to keep in mind the good Giuliani had done in his lifetime.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in August found Giuliani liable for defaming the pair after the defendant repeatedly snubbed court orders to turn over required evidence to Freeman and Moss.
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7This will unfortunately probably be settled for pennies on the dollar after appeals and such.
4sucks to suck traitor!
3Damn ! He got that kinda money? I think I might run for Parliament. Need to do some research first. I'll be back. Please vote for me.
3That's way above the "tens of millions" that some commentators were predicting based off the filings - maybe they didn't include the punitive damages? Or did the judge cause a surprise with the number?
2The jury decided the numbers. Tbh the actual damages seem high for the defamation. I'm not sure how they proved they had direct financial or reputational damage of over $16M each. The emotional distress is also high at $20M each, but tbh this shit did put them through hell so I could see that.
4The jury decided the punitive damages should be, well...punitive. They added $100 million on to the requested compensatory damages because clearly they wanted to drive home the point that lying, scumbag, decrepit, pieces of human garbage who try to justify overthrowing the government by claiming fraud and then blaming that fraud on random election workers should get fucked for life.
10I think if they want, they ought to be able to afford bodyguards for the next 10-20 years to regain a sense of security after the hell they've been through.
5the actual damages seem high for the defamation
I dunno, they're gonna need to invest in a lot of security to ever be comfortable again. It's not like there's any other remedy, you can't call off a lunatic cult after you've sicced them on someone.
3