MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — MyPillow founder Mike Lindell defamed the election technology company Smartmatic with false statements that its voting machines helped rig the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge in Minnesota ruled Friday.
But U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan deferred until future proceedings the question of whether Lindell — one of the country’s most prominent propagators of false claims that the 2020 election was a fraud — acted with the “actual malice” that Smartmatic still needs to prove to collect any damages.
The judge said there are “genuine fact disputes” as to whether Lindell’s statements were made “with knowledge that they were false or made with reckless disregard to their falsity.” He noted that the defense says Lindell has an “unwavering belief” that his statements were truthful.
The statements cited by the judge arose from Lindell’s criticism of the results of the 2020 election in California’s Los Angeles County, which Democratic candidate Joe Biden carried with 71% of the vote over President Donald Trump and helped Biden secure the state’s 55 electoral votes.
The county used Smartmatic’s computerized touchscreen ballot-marking devices and was the company’s only customer for the 2020 election. Lindell alleged the machines were rigged to change Trump votes to Biden votes.
The judge ruled there were 51 specific times when Lindell falsely claimed — in documentaries he produced and through various media and personal appearances — that Smartmatic interfered with the results.
“The Court concludes that, based on the record presented, no reasonable trier of fact could find that any of the statements at issue are true,” Bryan wrote.
Smartmatic attorney Erik Connolly said they will be seeking “nine-figure damages” from Lindell and MyPillow for “spreading lies” about the company.
“Smartmatic did not and could not have rigged the 2020 election,” Connolly said in a statement. “It was impossible, and everything that Mr. Lindell said about Smartmatic was false.”
Smartmatic has been on a winning streak, having reached settlements last year with two conservative news outlets, including Newsmax and One America News Network. The Florida-based company also still has an active case against Fox News.
Lindell also has made similar claims against Dominion Voting Systems. He lost a case involving the Denver-based company in June when a jury ruled that he defamed a former Dominion employee by accusing him of treason. The jury awarded $2.3 million in damages.
Lindell told The Associated Press shortly after the Smartmatic ruling was filed Friday that he hadn’t seen it, but that it was “the most bizarre thing I’ve ever heard.”
Lindell went on to call Smartmatic “one of the most corrupt companies in the world,” and he vowed to keep fighting until its voting machines are “melted down and turned into prison bars.” He said he’ll take his crusade to eliminate voting machines in favor of paper ballots all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if he has to.
Lindell, known as the “MyPillow” guy for his bedding company, also said he recently reestablished residence in Minnesota as a step toward a likely run for governor against incumbent Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. While MyPillow is based in the Minneapolis suburbs, Lindell had been living until recently in Texas.
Lindell and MyPillow have faced a number of legal and financial setbacks in recent years, but he won a victory in July when a federal appeals court ruled he didn’t have to pay a $5 million arbitration award to a software engineer who disputed data that Lindell claimed proved China interfered in the 2020 election. The court said the arbitration panel overstepped its authority.
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