U.S (ECWd) –
Four years and counting.
US Dominion Inc. filed defamation lawsuits beginning in January 2021 against multiple defendants. The current court docket on these cases included a transcript of a recent hearing regarding multiple discovery issues and scheduling concerns for all the parties involved.
As of 11/08/2024, the following scheduling is set, although no trial date has been set, and it appears from the transcript the trial would likely not be in 2025. (Scheduling Order at this link). The scheduling applies to all the defendants of the Dominion suits that appear to still include MICHAEL J. LINDELL, MY PILLOW INC, SYDNEY POWELL, and RUDOLPH GIULIANI. While there may be others, these are the ones that have generated a great deal of public interest.
- Completion of limited number of depositions in Herring Networks (21-cv-2130) case – October 31, 2024
- Completion of document productions and depositions of (1) Bobb; (2) previously requested persons connected to Powell, Powell P.C. and DTR1; (3) Lindell, MyPillow, and persons connected to Lindell and MyPillow; (4) Byrne and persons connected to Byrne; and (5) Giuliani and persons connected to Giuliani – December 13, 2024
- Proponents’ Expert Reports
December 20, 2024 - Opponents’ Expert Reports – January 31, 2025
- Proponents’ Responsive Expert Reports – March 14, 2025
- Deadline for Expert Depositions -April 18, 2025
- Status Conference Currently set for – February 18, 2025 Court to advise whether it intends to keep this date or reset.
- Dispositive Motions – June 13, 2025
- Oppositions to Dispositive Motions – July 18, 2025
- Replies in Support of Dispositive Motions – August 29, 2025
The Court previously dismissed all counterclaims brought by Defendant Michael Lindell against the Smartmatic Third-Party Defendants. Smartmatic filed a motion for sanctions and requested $546,156.00 in sanctions, “equal to roughly 82.9% of the fees it paid defending itself against the counterclaims and moving for sanctions”.
The court granted sanctions for $56,369.00 (Order on Sanctions at this link)
“Adding up the time entries attributed to defending against that claim, the Court orders Lindell to pay $56,369 to Smartmatic. Pending final judgment and a potential appeal as to Lindell’s counterclaims, however, the Court orders that money to be held in escrow by Smartmatic’s counsel, subject to an escrow agreement negotiated by the relevant parties”. (Order on Sanctions at this link)
With no trial date set, we can only wonder if this case will drag on beyond 2026. We will update you as more developments take place in the cases.
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