The attorneys–including Sidney Powell and Lin Wood–will have to pay more than $175,000 in legal fees to the state of Michigan and city of Detroit.
A group of pro-Trump attorneys have been ordered to pay more than $175,000 in sanctions after filing a series of bogus lawsuits challenging the validity of the 2020 presidential election.
According to CNN, U.S. District Judge Linda Parker ordered that the lawyers—including Sidney Powell and Lin Wood—pay $21,964.75 in attorneys’ fees to the Michigan state officials they attacked in one lawsuit.
The pro-Trump attorneys will also have to reimburse the city of Detroit $153,285.62 in legal fees.
“Plaintiffs’ attorneys, many of whom seek donations from the public to fund lawsuits like this one, see https://defendingthepublic.org/, have the ability to pay this sanction,” Parker wrote in her judgment.
Donald Trump. Photo by Gage Skidmore, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0“Plaintiffs’ attorneys filed this lawsuit without conducting the required degree of diligence as to the truth of the allegations made or the merits of the legal claims asserted,” Parker said on Thursday.
Parker, says CNN, is giving the attorneys 30 days to pay the penalties.
However, their payment may be deferred if the lawyers choose to appeal Parker’s underlying August decision.
In her August ruling, Parker said that the lawyers had “engaged in litigation practices” which were “abusive and, in turn, sanctionable.”
“Sanctions are required to deter the filing of future frivolous lawsuits designed primarily to spread the narrative that our election processes are rigged and our democratic institutions cannot be trusted,” Parker wrote in August.
“It is one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election,” Parker said. “It is another to take on the charge of deceiving a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed, without regard to whether any laws or rights were in fact violated. This is what happened here.”
The Associated Press notes that Michigan’s top three elected officials—Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson—are seeking the disbarment of four of the nine attorneys named in Parker’s ruling, including Sidney Powell.
Powell, adds The Associated Press, is licensed to practice law in Texas, while the other three are admitted to practice in Michigan.
Reuters reports that Judge Parker has also recommended that legal disciplinary bodies investigate the attorneys to see whether their law licenses should be revoked.
Powell, however, has maintained that her lawsuit was justified, as she “vetted” the election fraud claims before filing suit.
To date, there is no evidence to show that voter fraud influenced the outcome of the United States presidential election in any meaningful way.
Sources
Lawyers allied with Trump ordered to pay $175K over sham election lawsuit
Pro-Trump lawyers ordered to pay $175,000 for ‘frivolous’ election lawsuit
Trump-aligned lawyers ordered to pay $175,000 in sanctions fees for bogus election fraud lawsuit
Trump attorneys ordered to pay $175,000 over failed 2020 election lawsuit
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