Severe consequences are warranted’: Defamed election workers seek double whammy against Giuliani, asking a judge to hold him in contempt for breaking court order and discovery procedures

Defamed Georgia election workers are now calling for harsh punishments against Rudy Giuliani for allegedly breaking multiple court orders and consistently not fulfilling his discovery duties.

In a 22-page motion filed Thursday, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea ArShaye Shaye Moss asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman to punish the former mayor of New York City severely and hold him in civil contempt in order to enforce previous court decisions.

The orders were issued by the court on November 22 and October 28. The first order set timelines and demanded that the defendant reply to discovery requests as quickly as feasible.

After the first deadline passed, the court imposed a new one on Giuliani to explain himself and avoid contempt. The plaintiffs are impatient now that the second deadline has passed.

The most recent motion claims that despite many orders from this Court compelling him to do so, Mr. Giuliani has failed to produce a single document in response to Plaintiffs’ discovery orders in this matter.

Associated coverage:

For a campaign against the women in which Giuliani falsely claimed the two were involved in fraud and had defrauded voters in the 2020 presidential election, Freeman and Moss were awarded a $148 million default defamation decision in December 2023.

Since then, the two have filed numerous lawsuits against the former federal prosecutor to safeguard their financial interests, including a new round of Requests for Production of Documents (RFPs) meant to get pertinent financial data.

Despite two orders in a row answering their petitions, the plaintiffs say Giuliani has not responded.

As the case proceeds, the plaintiffs respectfully propose that the court should now declare Mr. Giuliani in contempt for breaking the orders dated October 28 and November 22 and impose any applicable contempt penalty.

The couple owes the former federal prosecutor millions of dollars, and although they have begun to gather relatively small but significant amounts of cash and property to pay the debt, there are still a number of unresolved difficulties in this case and others that are related to it.

On January 16, 2025, the present case will go to trial to see if he created a homestead on his Florida apartment in Palm Beach prior to creditors putting a lien on it.

Freeman and Moss assert that in order to assist with that part of the case, they need discovery. They want the court to punish Giuliani individually for discovery violations, but they are not sure if they will get the necessary records.

According to the motion, Mr. Giuliani should also be punished by the court for disobeying several discovery orders.

Given Mr. Giuliani’s history of refusing to cooperate in discovery despite potential fines, his deliberate disregard for the obvious consequences of his actions, and his willful violation of numerous orders of this Court, harsh discovery sanctions are justified in this case.

To put it another way, the mother and daughter want the individual who defamed them to face particular consequences for discovery violations in addition to a contempt sanction.

Severe Sanctions Are Warranted is the headline of one part of the Freeman-Moss filing, which is not bashful about its desire.

According to the creditors-plaintiffs, Giuliani’s conduct up to this point don’t merit any discussion or dispute.

The brief goes on to state that the plaintiffs respectfully contend that the only debatable matter before the Court is not whether Rule 37 sanctions should be applied, but rather what kind of consequence should be applied. Because of Mr. Giuliani’s actions, harsh penalties are required, including negative conclusions and exclusion.

The request is urgent, according to the document, since Giuliani’s deposition is set for December 27 and discovery closes on December 31.

In the context of a judgment-enforcement action, which this Court has recognized should go swiftly and not protractedly, the motion argues that the Court should not permit Mr. Giuliani to postpone accountability.

An already reasonable time limit could be jeopardized if Mr. Giuliani is given more time to obfuscate in response to clear-cut discovery requests, particularly since he hasn’t shown any signs of trying to comply.

In light of this, the plaintiffs assert that Giuliani may have been acting strategically when he repeatedly disregarded court orders.

Once more, the motion is lengthy:

In recent days and weeks, the individual who went by Hizzoner and then attached his wagon to conspiracy theories supporting Donald Trump following the latter’s 2020 election defeat has placed himself in a growing legal risk for slander.

Giuliani was threatened with contempt by Liman late last month unless he delivered all of the property owed to Freeman and Moss, which the creditors say was hidden away, by December 9.

In a case centered in Washington, D.C., Giuliani is also being charged with contempt for allegedly continuing to disparage the two even after they lost.

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