Trailed by possible billion-dollar liabilities and a reported criminal investigation, ex-New York City mayor turned former President Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been accused of ducking service a $1.3 billion lawsuit filed against him late last month.
Originally reported by the New York Daily News, Dominion Voting Systems confirmed the details of that report in an email to Law&Crime.
The voting machine company first attempted to notify Giuliani that he was being sued via email but he declined to allow digital service by okaying a waiver even after he publicly announced that he welcomed the legal battle.
“Dominion’s defamation lawsuit for $1.3B will allow me to investigate their history, finances, and practices fully and completely. The amount being asked for is, quite obviously, intended to frighten people of faint heart,” Giuliani said on Jan. 25. “It is another act of intimidation by the hate-filled left-wing to wipe out and censor the exercise of free speech, as well as the ability of lawyers to defend their clients vigorously. As such, we will investigate a countersuit against them for violating these Constitutional rights.”
Being served in person was reportedly part of that fight.
According to Dominion attorney Tom Clare, the company hired a process server—not uncommon in civil suits—after Giuliani declined to accept an emailed copy. But even that was apparently a bit of a hassle.
“After not responding to requests to waive service, Mr. Giuliani evaded in-person service of process for nearly a week,” Clare told Law&Crime. “It took numerous attempts, at both his home and office, before we were able to successfully serve Mr. Giuliani on February 10. Mr. Giuliani’s repeated false claims about Dominion have been immeasurably damaging; this service of process is one more step forward in our pursuit of justice.”
Dominion’s lawyers have said similar problems arose when attempting to serve Sidney Powell with a lawsuit.
Giuliani’s assistant Christianné Allen did not respond to an email requesting comment by press time.
The Daily News cites an anonymous source who detailed an all-but comical effort at having Dominion’s lawsuit hand-delivered under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
From that article by Stephen Rex Brown:
A doorman, knowing process servers were looking for Giuliani, locked the door to the building whenever the former mayor entered the lobby.
On Feb. 7, a pair of process servers and Giuliani got into an awkward standoff during a nasty winter storm. That morning, the doorman to the building waved to a Ford Explorer SUV parked down the street. Giuliani got in the passenger seat and closed the SUV door as a process server lunged forward with a bag full of documents.
“This is not the way it’s supposed to be done. You should have gone to my office,” Giuliani said, according to the account. The lawsuit was lodged between the SUV door.
The alert doorman reportedly helped Giuliani close the vehicle’s door, preventing the legal documents from being accepted. According to this account, the doorman went back into the building and locked the door—leading the process server to leave the legal documents outside of Giuliani’s building and say, “These documents now belong to Giuliani.”
But that wasn’t the end of things.
Building staff then tossed the legal documents into a New York City trashcan, allegedly forcing the process server to retrieve them. After that, the waiting-and-eluding game reportedly continued for three more days. Phone calls and emails were reportedly ignored. A red light was reportedly blown through by one of Giuliani’s drivers. The man formerly known as Hizzoner allegedly dodged and weaved and dodged some more.
Finally, Giuliani’s assistant accepted the lawsuit on his behalf.
That 107-page lawsuit alleges that Giuliani “cashed in” on the “Big Lie” of electoral fraud facilitated by Dominion outside the courtroom by repeating false claims about election fixing in public—and specifically on a podcast in which he hawked supplements, gold coins and cigars.
[image via screengrab/YouTube]
