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BREAKING UPDATE:
Judge Beryl Howell just entered a default judgment in favor of Ms. Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss on their claims against Guiliani for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damages. The court ordered the parties to confer on a date for trial on damages between November 2023 and February 2024. The court also granted plaintiffs’ motion for sanctions, enabling them to recover attorneys’ fees for discovery abuse.
Go Ms. Ruby & Ms. Moss!
ORIGINAL POST:
Speaking of Rudy: y’all might remember that just over a month ago on 7/25, he submitted a stipulation in the civil lawsuit brought by Ms. Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, in which he did not deny that he had committed defamation per se and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The purpose of this stipulation was to avoid complying with discovery requests, because his prior failure to comply resulted in an order requiring him to pay roughly $90k in attorneys’ fees to the plaintiffs. Nevertheless, Rudy claimed that he was still not liable because he had a 1st Amendment right to defame plaintiffs (which is NOT how defamation law works). He also alleged that plaintiffs weren’t damaged by his conduct, and that he was entitled to a set off of damages received via settlement from other media defendants who published Rudy’s lies.
Judge Beryl Howell then ordered Rudy to clarify the scope of his stipulation to determine whether she should enter a default judgment against him, meaning the only issue left for trial would be the amount of damages owed. This result would be similar to that in the Alex Jones cases, in which default judgments were entered against him in the Sandy Hook defamation cases, leaving only the issue of damages to be decided by the jurors.
I hadn’t heard anything further on the status of the Freeman/Moss v Guiliani case, so I checked the court docket. Rudy filed an amended stipulation on 8/8 per the court’s order (see below). My best guess is that the court enters a default judgment on the merits, and sets a jury trial to determine damages, but that hasn’t happened yet.
I hope these fine ladies take his last nickel, and whatever stash of booze he has left.