Dominion blastedMyPillow CEOMike Lindell in a new court filing.- Lindell accused Dominion of forming an illegal criminal enterprise to suppress his speech.
Lawyers for
"These extreme theories, and others discussed below, are fundamentally incompatible with an open judicial system on which parties can rely to resolve their disputes," lawyers for Dominion wrote at the opening of Friday's motion. "They also, as discussed below, lack any legal support."
The filing comes amid a convoluted court fight where Dominion is trying to get the judge overseeing the case to dismiss a counterclaim Lindell brought against the election technology company.
In February 2021, Dominion sued Lindell and MyPillow. It alleged the pillow mogul defamed the company by lying about its role in the 2020 presidential election. Lindell has falsely claimed that Dominion rigged votes around the country in a way that allowed hackers from China and Iran to falsify election results in favor of now-President Joe Biden, and that former President Donald Trump is the true victor.
Lindell has also falsely claimed that Dominion did this in cahoots with
Last summer, a federal judge in Washington, DC, upheld Dominion's lawsuit — as well as lawsuits it filed against fellow election conspiracy theorists and former Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani — allowing them to go to trial. (Smartmatic and Dominion separately have several more defamation lawsuits making their way through the courts.) Lindell and MyPillow are appealing that decision and have refused to hand over discovery information until that appeal is settled.
In December, Lindell brought a counterclaim alleging that Dominion and Smartmatic colluded to rig the election.
The RICO counterclaim also alleged that Dominion, Smartmatic, and Dominion's public relations firm Hamilton Place Strategies formed a de-facto illegal criminal organization designed to suppress "dissenting speech," a reference to his false claims about the election, through "lawfare."
Smartmatic urged the judge to dismiss the counterclaim and sanction Lindell's lawyers. An attorney for Smartmatic previously told Insider that the counterclaim "lacks a good faith basis in law or fact."
"There's no legal precedent for the claims that are being brought," Smartmatic's attorney J. Erik Connolly told Insider. "I understand that someone can throw a lot of spaghetti on the wall. But that doesn't provide you a factual or a legal predicate for a claim."
Dominion, in January, also urged the judge to dismiss the counterclaim. Friday's filing supports that initial motion, addressing legal arguments Lindell has offered up in the months since.
Lindell alleges Dominion took part in criminal racketeering. But the underlying actions he takes issue with, Dominion's new filing points out, was simply sending cease-and-desist letters, filing a lawsuit against him, and talking about it with the media.
"Ultimately, neither Lindell nor MyPillow can dispute that the only conduct directed at them on which the counterclaims are based are the three buckets of conduct outlined in Dominion's opening brief: (1) sending three cease and desist letters to Lindell and MyPillow; (2) suing Lindell and MyPillow; and (3) giving a single interview about this lawsuit the day after it was filed and posting materials from the lawsuit on its website," lawyers for Dominion wrote.
The conduct Lindell objects to, according to Dominion's lawyers, has been just what any other competent lawyers would do.
"The most straightforward way to dispense with Lindell's RICO claim is by applying the well-established, sensible rule that RICO claims may not be based on litigation-related activity," lawyers for Dominion wrote. "Courts across the country refuse to allow such claims to proceed; holding otherwise would inundate courts with procedurally complex RICO pleadings, and would deter citizens from petitioning courts to resolve their disputes in the first place."