It is an interesting comment on this country’s legal system that for all the talk about criminal laws broken, international intrigue, possible treason (or at least significant conflicts of interest), obstruction of justice, and a corrupt Bill Barr Department of Justice, the most immediate and perhaps most penetrating legal action taken against the entire Trump post-election enterprise and attempted coup may not come from any government prosecutors, but from a private company that was used – quite literally – as the fall guy, with no basis in fact.

Right now, Dominion Voting Systems is in the driver’s seat. Normally, lawsuits are about recouping losses. One sues a negligent driver to get the value of your car back, your medical bills paid, missed work, and pain and suffering. But those all assume one is suing someone else for negligence. There is nothing “negligent” in a defamation case. Defamation is intentional conduct, intended to inflict damage. Intentional torts seek to recoup financial damages to a company’s prestige, good name, and other purely economic damages. But most states allow a plaintiff in an intentional tort case to seek “punitive damages,” money paid to the plaintiff as pure punishment and to dissuade others from doing so in the future.

But it is hard to punish people worth nine to ten figures without getting a lot of money in a judgment. If it gets that far, a jury will get to hear evidence regarding Lindell’s net worth, or Rudy’s net worth, or FOX, or Hannity… you get the idea. Pretty soon we’re talking about money that actually could reach into the billions and money that could break companies, especially if more companies jump into the lawsuits.

Having said all that, one would think that Mike Lindell, a man once worth $300 million, might start being a bit cautious. But fortunately for Dominion’s lawyers, he seems to be making no attempt at all. Lindell appeared on Steve Bannon’s podcast (bad idea) and let loose with more crazy:

Either way Steve, I want to say this, I’ll give Dominion [Voting Systems] a little scare this morning. Dominion, we have machines now, I do. I have machines, we have ES&S [Election Systems & Software] machines, we got them all and we’re going to being putting out so much information over the next couple of weeks.”

As near as we can tell, there is no way Lindell can legally be in possession of a Dominion voting machine, certainly not ones used in the election. So, he is either lying (again) or is admitting to theft. We cannot be sure.

Per Rawstory: Jeff Timmer of the Lincoln project offered up (jokingly):

“Lindell is doing his best to ensure Dominion’s lawsuit against him will be the first civil case ever to result in the death penalty.” (Okay, not that funny. Still.) Lindell will not suffer biological death, nor should he. But he could suffer financial death and seems hell-bent on inflicting it on himself.

Southern District of New York prosecutor Richard Signorelli offered his own analysis. “Lindell may be the first civil defendant to be able to successfully assert an insanity defense.”

Perhaps someone should tell Lindell that it won’t work in a civil case. He seems to be working that angle.

Lindell may be the first civil defendant to be able to successfully assert an insanity defense. https://t.co/3vYtXSy0t7

— Richard Signorelli (@richsignorelli) May 9, 2021

Now, just because Dominion has been first in line at the courthouse, does not mean they will be the only one in line, and most importantly, not the last.

It is frustrating that the criminal side seems to be lagging but that is the way our system works. It is better for it to be hard to bring criminal charges than be easy. Additionally, as we’ve said before, these matters are too important, mistakes cannot happen. If it takes an extra month or two, or six, to be perfect, we can afford to wait.
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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak