Trump Lawyers Sanctioned Again For Stupid Lawsuit Claiming Clinton Rigged The Election She Lost
Once again, the federal court that had the misfortune of dealing with Donald Trump's pile of conspiracy theory he and his lawyers generously called a lawsuit" is handing out sanctions to Trump's legal team.
The lawsuit - which claimed Hillary Clinton (and a couple dozen others) conspired to rig the election Trump actually won - was dismissed with prejudice last September. The dismissal began with a paragraph that summed up the impossibility of summarizing Trump's clusterfuck of a lawsuit:
Plaintiff's theory of this case, set forth over 527 paragraphs in the first 118 pages of the Amended Complaint, is difficult to summarize in a concise and cohesive manner. It was certainly not presented that way.
There were more numbers cited by the clearly annoyed judge: 193 pages, 819 paragraphs, 14 counts, 31 named defendants, 10 Doe" defendants, 10 ABC Corporations," and a few lawyers trying to shepherd this mess through court while spending their downtime badmouthing the defendants and the judge (!!!) during TV appearances.
Two months later, having declared everyone but Trump the victor, the court began issuing sanctions, starting with defendant Charles Dolan's request for costs and fees. The judge was even more harsh in his assessment of the lawsuit this time around.
Not just initiated by a shotgun pleading, this was a shotgun lawsuit. Thirty-one individuals and organizations were summoned to court, forced to hire lawyers to defend against frivolous claims. The only common thread against them was Mr. Trump's animus.
Plaintiff deliberately misrepresented public documents by selectively using some portions while omitting other information including findings and conclusions that contradicted his narrative. This occurred with the Danchenko Indictment, the Department of Justice Inspector General's Report for Operation Hurricane, and the Mueller Report. It was too frequent to be accidental.
Every claim was frivolous, most barred by settled, well-established existing law. These were political grievances masquerading as legal claims. This cannot be attributed to incompetent lawyering. It was a deliberate use of the judicial system to pursue a political agenda.
The end result: $16,274 in legal fees. $50,000 in sanctions.
The bleeding continues. Another 18 defendants are being handled by the court, all seeking legal fees and sanctions. And they're going to get what they've asked for. The latest sanctions order [PDF] opens with yet another caustic summary of Trump's stupid lawsuit.
This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim.
Thirty-one individuals and entities were needlessly harmed in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative. A continuing pattern of misuse of the courts by Mr. Trump and his lawyers undermines the rule of law, portrays judges as partisans, and diverts resources from those who have suffered actual legal harm.
After some attempts to summarize the sprawling mess Trump and his lawyers inflicted on the court, the judge says both Trump and his lead counsel are financially culpable for this debacle. And the court is unwilling to let Trump pretend the blame lays solely at the feet of his legal team.
Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries. He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions. As such, I find that sanctions should be imposed upon Mr. Trump and his lead counsel, Ms. Habba.
The defendants asked for a little more than a $1 million in legal fees and costs. Over several, mostly incoherent objections from Trump and his legal team, the court awards nearly the entire amount requested.
Plaintiff Donald J. Trump and Plaintiff's lead attorney-Alina Habba and Habba Madaio & Associates-are jointly and severally liable for $937,989.39.
Of course, there's a good chance the defendants will never see a cent of this. Trump doesn't seem to like paying even his own lawyers. It seems unlikely he'll rush to cut a check for lawyers that work against him.
And this won't be the last we hear about this. The fee awards and sanctions will keep coming. There's still another dozen or so defendants yet to be dealt with. By the end of this, Trump and his legal reps will be out even more cash.