Michigan AG Using Former Trump Lawyer Sidney Powell's 'No Reasonable Person Would Believe Me' Statements To Seek Sanctions Against Her

Legal Issues

from the you-can-have-your-legal-defense-or-your-law-license,-but-not-both dept

In January — shortly after the failed DC insurrection — Dominion Voting Systems sued former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell for defamation over her repeated assertions the company was somehow involved in “stealing” the election for President Joe Biden.

As evidence of these extraordinary claims, Powell — the self-proclaimed “kraken” — offered up a bunch of hearsay and conjecture from QAnon-addled conspiracy theorists who took a break from trying to link prominent Democrats to ritualistic child abuse to link Dominion to a deceased Venezuelan dictator.

Accusations of vote rigging/stealing were made by Powell — not just during press conferences and TV appearances — but in court as sworn statements of fact. Powell’s response to this lawsuit was to basically claim everyone who heard her allegations knew they were little more than heated hyperbole and expressions of her opinion.

Apparently, “everyone” also covered the judges handling her lawsuits in which she claimed her assertions were solid, fact-based, and worthy of exploration. Claiming “no one takes me seriously” may help Powell escape a defamation lawsuit, but it doesn’t help her when it comes to her litigation where these same claims were expected to be taken seriously by federal courts.

Sidney Powell’s inadvertent self-sabotage continues. Powell’s best defense against Dominion’s billion-dollar lawsuit is now being used by Michigan officials to argue the lawyer to be legally-sanctioned for lying to the courts. As Adam Klasfield reports for Law & Crime, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is wielding Powell’s own statements against her to seek sanctions.

“These attorneys seemingly made statements they knew were misleading in an effort to further their false and destructive narrative,” Nessel wrote in a statement on Wednesday. “As lawyers, fidelity to the law is paramount. These individuals worked to further conspiracy theories in an effort to erode public trust in government and dismantle our systems of democracy. Their actions are inexcusable.”

Pretty much. You can’t litigate using the same allegations you later claim aren’t actual statements of fact. While there are some protections against defamation lawsuits for statements made in court cases, that doesn’t extend to claims made in public. And when both sets of claims are pretty much identical, it becomes a real problem when you assert “no reasonable person” would believe they were “statements of fact” when that group of reasonable people now includes federal judges.

This move for sanctions is on top of the state’s attempt to get Powell disbarred for attempting to overturn the state’s 2020 election results with litigation state officials claimed crossed ethical lines. Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s complaint against Powell make it’s clear the state’s serious about preventing Powell from practicing law in the state:

By filing a frivolous lawsuit based on false statements and by brazenly attempting to disenfranchise Michigan voters during the recent presidential election, she engaged in grave attorney misconduct.

Her defense in the Dominion lawsuit looks like it’s going to cost her even more than what Dominion may eventually extract from Powell via its lawsuit. The best course of action would have been to not do any of the things Powell did months ago. A steady stream of stunt litigation based on allegations apparently compiled by legal experts on 4chan is a great way to find yourself out of a job and a whole lot of money.

Filed Under: dana nessel, defamation, michigan, sanctions, sidney powell
Companies: dominion