O’Rourke v. Dominion Voting Systems, Inc

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether to impose sanctions on the Plaintiff's attorneys for filing frivolous litigation.

Alleged Acts: The defendants alleged that the plaintiff’s violated rules of professional conduct by filing frivolous litigation and sought the Court to impose sanctions.

Procedural history: The lawsuit was filed on December 22, 2020, more than six weeks after the November 3, 2020 election, and was quickly dismissed by the court on April 28, 2021 for lack of standing as well as lack of jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants. The defendants moved for sanctions pursuant to FRCP Rule 11, 28 U.S.C. § 1927, and the court’s inherent authority.

Summary: Colorado lawyers purporting to represent a class action of all registered voters in the United States brought suit seeking $160 billion in damages ($1,000 per registered U.S. voter) against Dominion Voting Systems, Inc., the Center for Tech and Civil Life (an Illinois voting technology nonprofit), Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, and various state officials from throughout the country, including governors and election officials from Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The case was quickly dismissed by the Court for lack of standing as well as lack of jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants.

Conclusion: The Court ordered sanctions on several of the plaintiff’s lawyers finding that the lawsuit was “one enormous conspiracy theory” about the 2020 election and its “allegations are extraordinarily serious and, if accepted as true by large numbers of people, are the stuff of which violent insurrections are made.” Specifically, the Court found that the affidavits attached to the complaint contained nothing more than “generalized fear and suspicion that the ‘system’ is rigged” with conclusory statements and beliefs about what must have happened in the election supported by no firsthand knowledge. The Court ordered the sanctioned lawyers to pay the defense’s legal fees.

Legal Issue(s)