Trump goon Sidney Powell, a far-right attorney, lost in court this week, with federal Judge Carl Nichols dismissing a counterclaim she filed after a lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems accusing her of defamation for lies about the company’s machines and non-existent widespread election fraud in 2020. Dominion’s case was thereby preserved.
Powell accused Dominion of so-called abuse of process, for which Nichols found no compelling evidence in support. As summarized by the judge, proving that claim means showing an “ulterior motive” and something committed by the target of the claim in support of those covert ambitions outside the norm for whatever is driving the case. “Even if Powell adequately alleged that Dominion had an ulterior motive in bringing its lawsuit, her counterclaim fails under the second element,” Nichols said, referring to the requirement he described that anyone found liable for abuse of process must be shown to have committed “some act that perverted the judicial process.” But what Powell laid out isn’t enough. “But Powell’s complaint fails to link her abuse-of-process claim to any act that Dominion has taken other than filing and pursuing its lawsuit,” as the judge explained it.
As summarized in Forbes, Powell sought an array of remedies in bringing her claim, including $10 million in damages, a jury trial, and the dismissal of Dominion’s original suit against her. Powell was familiarly blunt in her arguments in the counterclaim. “Dominion’s actions were and are characterized by improper motive, willful, wanton, and malicious conduct, and were intentionally designed to injure Ms. Powell and the other Defendants,” her court arguments alleged. A trial on Dominion’s original claims against Powell isn’t set to take place for around a year or more, meaning available info suggests the Dominion case against Fox News — amid which the voting machines company has been taking depositions of high-profile figures at the outlet — will go to trial first. Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have been among those Dominion is seeking to depose in the discovery process. Dominion also already obtained millions of docs from Fox, including communications involving various personnel at the company.
New: A DC federal judge dismissed Sidney Powell's counterclaim against Dominion Voting Systems in Dominion's defamation case re: 2020 election conspiracy theorizing — no abuse of process by Dominion in suing her, judge findshttps://t.co/UmJoTDXHUR pic.twitter.com/fn4fxUQlf3
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) September 28, 2022
