Another voyage of discovery.
Mike Lindell commented last month that he hoped to get the chance for discovery in a Dominion defamation lawsuit. “I want them to sue me,” the founder and CEO of MyPillow told CBS five weeks ago. Looks like he got his wish, and Dominion Voting Systems apparently looks forward to a little discovery of its own by including Lindell’s company as a respondent: Dominion Voting Systems sued Mike Lindell, chief executive of Minnesota-based MyPillow Inc., and his company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking more than $1.3 billion in damages. In its complaint, the company cites a number of statements made by Mr. Lindell, including in media appearances, social-media posts, and a two-hour film claiming to prove widespread election fraud. Mr. Lindell said he helped produce the film, which he released online in early February. The complaint alleges that Mr. Lindell made false claims about the integrity of Dominion’s voting machines and that he knew no credible evidence supported his claims that the company had stolen the election from Mr. Trump—what Dominion has called the “Big Lie.” “He is well aware of the independent audits and paper ballot recounts conclusively disproving the Big Lie,” the complaint states. “But Lindell…sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows.” They don’t mean that figuratively, either. The lawsuit alleges that Lindell has marketed his company’s product directly from his claims of election fraud. Dominion wants to open his books and take a good look at his sales: Dominion’s complaint notes that Lindell’s company has offered a number of election-related discount codes, and that he has increased sales of HisPillows by 30-40% by making things up about non-existent election fraud. pic.twitter.com/8uvslR4mTn Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) February 22, 2021 There’s a lot in the complaint about past allegations of misleading advertising, plus very specific attempts to tie Lindell and his product to Fox News and Newsmax. Both are respondents in other defamation actions Dominion is already pursuing, which makes this look like an attempt to tie the whole thing to a conspiracy. However, some of this looks like a reach; the lawsuit claims that “MyPillow’s success is due to a gamble Lindell made on Fox News years ago,” and adds that Lindell has bet heavily on Newsmax too. All that claim does is to make Fox and Newsmax look like pretty good bets for advertising.
