This article contains the latest developments in MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s EVM lawsuit that has been going on for a while.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was denied his request to dismiss a lawsuit on Monday filed against him by EVM (electronic voting machine) manufacturing company Smartmatic for allegedly making false claims about their voting systems.
Table of Contents
Mike Lindell to face EVM defamation lawsuit after judge denied motion to dismiss
Mike Lindell has to face the defamation suit filed by Smartmatic after Minnesota District Court Judge Wilhelmina Wright refused the MyPillow CEO’s request to dismiss the case.
Smartmatic sued the businessman for his allegedly false claims about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from former president Donald Trump due to rigged voting machines that were hacked to gather votes in favour of Democratic President Joe Biden.
The MyPillow CEO has publicly claimed several times that the integrity of the 2020 election was compromised due to faulty voting technology provided by the company’s electronic voting machines.
The Minnesota judge concluded that the voting machine manufacturing company has alleged sufficient facts for a plausible claim including deeming Lindell’s claims as false, while indicating that the statements made by him were triggered by malice and were knowingly commuted to external parties.
Mike Lindell filed two separate motions to dismiss the lawsuit, one himself, and the other through his company, MyPillow, that put forth the argument that it did not make any statements that contained mention of Smartmatic and that it is shielded by the First Amendment.
The complaint by Smartmatic against Mike Lindell is one of many filed by the company that targets several other Trump allies who have made similar claims. Another electronic voting machine manufacturing company named Dominion, has also filed similar defamation lawsuits against the MyPillow CEO over his claims of the 2020 elections being stolen from former President Trump due to faulty voting tech.
Rough waters ahead for Mike Lindell
Amidst growing legal troubles, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell also suffered another huge blow recently when departmental store chain Walmart decided to pull MyPillow products from its shelves citing the reason as low levels of customer satisfaction. Walmart’s decision resulted in huge losses for the pillow manufacturing company as the retail chain was its biggest distributor.
Also, Mike Lindell’s counter-suits filed in April last year against the voting machine manufacturing companies were also recently dismissed by a US District Judge in May earlier this year, because of his “frivolous” and “groundless” claims. The judge also ruled that Lindell’s lawyers would be sanctioned.
The May 2022 ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols concluded that “at the very least Lindell’s claim against Smartmatic under the Support or Advocacy Clause falls on the frivolous side of the line (other claims do too). As a result, the Court orders Lindell and his previous counsel to pay some of the fees and costs Smartmatic has incurred defending itself and moving for sanctions.”
Judge Nichols also ordered the MyPillow CEO to pay Smartmatic part of its legal costs incurred in defending itself in the company’s defamation lawsuit against him.
Also Read:
