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Lawyers – Gary D. Fielder and Ernest John Walker – who filed the election complaint in late December 2020 in Colorado federal court are now required to pay attorney fees for Facebook, Dominion Voting Systems, Michigan, Pennsylvania, of Georgia and Wisconsin, and the nonprofit Center for Technology and Civic Life, all of which were named as defendants in the lawsuit, trial judge N. Reid Neureiter ruled.
Wednesday’s decision marks the first major consequence in federal court for lawyers and litigants who pushed President Donald Trump’s attempt to undermine the 2020 election result in court.
It could also play into several other proceedings where judges are considering reprimands for Trump’s legal teams and those of his supporters.
The states, Dominion, Facebook and the nonprofit are expected to estimate their legal fees by the end of the month so the judge can determine the penalty amounts.
Fielder and Walker did not immediately comment on this story.
A claim in the lawsuit that Dominion suppressed votes for Trump was highly contested, inflammatory and unverified, the judge also noted. Several other lawyers for President Donald Trump and his campaign have repeated this claim in other court cases and face possible sanctions and punishments in other courts, and Dominion has sued for libel.
“The unique circumstances of this case, including the volatile conditions surrounding the 2020 elections, the extremely serious and potentially damaging allegations against officials and private entities, the remarkable demand to declare null and ineffective the certification of electoral votes from several states , as well as with an extraordinary request for money of $ 160 billion and the absence of any time pressure, meant that any reasonable pre-filing investigation had to involve extensive due diligence and testing of allegations, including actually speaking to individuals. human beings, such as lawyers who filed failed lawsuits and experts who submitted affidavits. In the circumstances of this case, the plaintiff’s lawyer did not fulfill this obligation, ”wrote the judge.
“Public statements from authoritative sources and courts dismissing allegations of widespread electoral fraud or ballot rigging should have been, if not bright red, at least flashing yellow lights warning the plaintiffs’ lawyer to proceed with caution.” , added Neureiter. “Instead, they drove through the lights at full speed, even while accelerating.”
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