Giuliani appeals $148M defamation verdict in Georgia election workers' lawsuit

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

02/21/24 7:36 AM ET


Rudy Giuliani appealed a jury’s verdict ordering him to pay $148 million to two Georgia election workers for defaming them following the 2020 election.

Giuliani filed for bankruptcy days after the verdict was handed down in December, freezing the election workers’ case and their efforts to collect the staggering sum from the former New York City mayor, who once represented former President Trump as his personal attorney.

Hours after his bankruptcy judge unfroze the defamation case and enabled Giuliani’s attorney to continue representing him, he formally filed his notice of appeal late Tuesday. “We very much appreciate the judge’s expeditious consideration of this matter and look forward to proceeding accordingly,” Ted Goodman, political adviser to Giuliani, said in a statement earlier in the day after the bankruptcy judge’s ruling.

A jury comprising eight Washington, D.C., residents ordered Giuliani to pay $148 million to the two election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, after making them a focal point of the Trump campaign’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Giuliani spread falsehoods that the mother-daughter duo engaged in mass voter fraud, accusations that largely revolved around video footage showing them working at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on election night.

Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4480208-giuliani-appeals-148m-defamation-verdict-georgia/

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Link to notice of appeal (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.238720/gov.uscourts.dcd.238720.148.0.pdf

(this is apparently addition to the motion to dismiss/have a new trial)

[LakeArenal]

1. Didn't he have to put up the money to appeal?

[Novara]

2. He has to use somebody else's money to appeal this case.

The judge is making sure he doesn't deplete his own funds (what may be left of them) so he can still pay the judgment if his appeal fails.

Ha ha!

[Silent Type]

3. Sounds like so-called legal experts who said he had to post a bond to appeal left out another option.

[Ocelot II]

4. The bankruptcy and the timing of the other motions complicate things a bit,

and the notice of appeal contains this unusual footnote:

Defendant files this Notice of Appeal subject to and without waiving his rights under his Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(b) filed prior to this Notice, which is yet to be ruled on. However, Defendant files this Notice of Appeal out of abundance of caution in the event the tolling doctrine enunciated in cases such as Loc. Union No. 38, Sheet Metal Workers' Int'l Ass'n, AFL-CIO v. Custom Air Sys., Inc., 333 F.3d 345, 347 (2d Cir. 2003) applying 11 U.S.C. § 108 to the deadline to file a notice of appeal (60 days from the date a bankruptcy is filed, as may be extended by weekends or holidays) is not held to apply to a post-judgment motion such as a Rule 50(b) motion.

No doubt somebody else put up the funds for an appeal bond - it wouldn't have been the entire amount of the verdict but a percentage of it, with the remaining amount basically an insurance payout. The important thing is that as much of his own money as possible is preserved to satisfy creditors.

[SouthernDem4ever]

5. How can he appeal if he hasn't put up the money?

He'll probably have to die of natural causes or alcohol poisoning before his appeals run out.

[bluestarone]

6. So, WHO is watching all the money for THIS guy,and

The other GUY? (TFG) I asked this before, but still not clear on WHO is watching the money. Only ONE person?