Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Washington, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. A jury awarded $148 million in damages to two former Georgia election workers who sued Giuliani for defamation over lies he spread about them in 2020 that upended their lives with racist threats and harassment. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana).
Georgia election workers defamed by Rudy Giuliani are now asking for him to be slapped with “severe sanctions” for allegedly violating several court orders and repeatedly flouting his discovery obligations.
On Thursday, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss filed a 22-page motion asking U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman to hold the former New York City mayor in civil contempt and harshly punish him to enforce compliance with recent court orders.
Those orders were issued by the court on Oct. 28, and Nov. 22. The first order directed the defendant to expediently reply to discovery requests and set deadlines for such replies. After the first deadline was missed, the court set another deadline for Giuliani to explain himself and avoid being held in contempt. Now, that second deadline has whooshed on by and the plaintiffs have lost their patience.
“Mr. Giuliani has not produced a single document in response to Plaintiffs’ discovery orders in this matter notwithstanding multiple orders from this Court requiring him to do so,” the latest motion reads.
In December 2023, Freeman and Moss won a $148 million default defamation verdict over a campaign against the women in which Giuliani falsely proclaimed the pair were engaged in fraud and had “cheated” voters during the 2020 presidential election.
The pair have since been engaged in various forms of litigation to avail their monetary interests against the onetime federal prosecutor — including a recent series of Requests for Production of Documents (RFPs) aimed at prying away relevant financial information.
The plaintiffs say Giuliani has not been forthcoming — even after two consecutive orders regarding those requests.
“Over a week has passed since the Court’s November 26, 2024 deadline—and notwithstanding being on notice that his failure to comply may ‘be punishable by contempt’—Mr. Giuliani has not served any responses or produced any documents in response to the First RFPs, or proffered any explanation for why he should not be held in contempt of the Court’s October 28 Order,” the motion goes on. “Plaintiffs respectfully submit that the time has come for Court to hold Mr. Giuliani in contempt for violating both the October 28 and November 22 Orders, and enter a contempt sanction it finds appropriate.”
While the pair are owed millions of dollars by the onetime federal prosecutor — and they have begun to collect relatively minor but still substantial troves of property and cash to cover the debt — there are currently several extant issues in the case and other related cases.
A trial in the present case is currently slated for Jan. 16, 2025, to determine whether he established a homestead on his Palm Beach apartment in Florida before the creditors fixed a lien on the property.
Freeman and Moss say they need discovery to help with that aspect of the case. Not convinced they will receive the requested documents, however, they want the court to sanction Giuliani separately for the discovery violations.
“The Court also should sanction Mr. Giuliani for failing to obey multiple discovery orders,” the motion continues. “Here, severe discovery sanctions are warranted given Mr. Giuliani’s willful flouting of multiple orders of this Court, his history of refusing to participate in discovery even in the face of possible sanctions, and his conscious disregard of the inevitable consequence of his conduct.”
In other words, the mother and daughter want the man who defamed them to be punished with contempt, a contempt sanction, and separate sanctions related directly to discovery violations.
The Freeman-Moss filing is not shy with the request; one section is entitled: “Severe Sanctions Are Warranted.”
And the creditors-plaintiffs don’t believe there is much to discuss or debate about Giuliani’s conduct so far.
“Plaintiffs respectfully suggest that the only colorable issue before the Court is not whether to apply Rule 37 sanctions, but rather what type of sanction to impose, ” the motion goes on. “Mr. Giuliani’s conduct necessitates severe sanctions—in particular, adverse inferences and preclusion.”
The filing notes some urgency in the request; Giuliani is scheduled to be deposed on Dec. 27; discovery closes on Dec. 31.
“The Court should not permit Mr. Giuliani to delay accountability, especially in the context of a judgment-enforcement action, which this Court has acknowledged ‘should move quickly’ and not be ‘extended’ or ‘lengthy,”” the motion reads. “Permitting Mr. Giuliani additional time to obfuscate in response to unambiguous discovery orders—especially when he has not provided any indicia of an attempt to comply—risks jeopardizing an already justifiably compressed time frame.”
To this end, the plaintiffs also allege that Giuliani’s repeat violation of the court orders may simply be strategic.
Again, the motion, at length:
This homestead dispute arises in the context of judgment enforcement and as such Plaintiffs are entitled to a speedy resolution. As such, Plaintiffs have done everything in their power to move this case forward consistent with the January 16, 2025 trial date. Aware of the expedited schedule, Plaintiffs promptly served document discovery on Mr. Giuliani, subject to the truncated deadlines the Court entered. When Mr. Giuliani failed to comply, Plaintiffs promptly filed the motion to compel. In contrast, Mr. Giuliani has made clear his desire to delay trial. It seems that Mr. Giuliani may be refusing to comply with the Orders in an attempt, at least in part, to force the Court to accept further delay. Mr. Giuliani’s gamesmanship and willful disregard for court orders and the burdens his litigation misconduct has inflicted on the parties and the Court warrant the entry of these severe sanctions.
The man who once went by the name “hizzoner” and then hitched his wagon to pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theories in the wake of the latter’s 2020 election loss, has put himself under increasing legal jeopardy in the defamation in recent days and weeks.
Late last month, Liman ordered Giuliani to deliver all of the property owed to Freeman and Moss — which the creditors claim was “secreted away” — by Dec. 9, or face the “pain of contempt.”
Giuliani also faces contempt in a D.C.-based case related to claims that he has continued to defame the duo even in defeat.
