Dominion say they were forced to chase Sidney Powell across state lines to serve her with $1.3bn lawsuit

Company revealed struggle to serve Ms Powell in reply to request for extension on response to suit

Oliver O'Connell

New York

Tuesday 09 February 2021 20:25 GMT

Comments

Rudy Giuliani on voter fraud: 'If we let this happen, we’re going to become Venezuela'

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Dominion Voting Systems says that ex-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell was pursued across state lines as she evaded being served with the defamation lawsuit the company filed against her.

In response to a motion by Ms Powell for an extension of time to answer or respond to the complaint, Dominion’s lawyers said that they do not oppose the motion “as a professional courtesy” but want the record to reflect two points.

First, that Ms Powell refused to respond to requests about executing waivers of service of process, that would have extended the time for her to respond to the complaint.

And second that the former Trump lawyer evaded being served for weeks, forcing Dominion to incur unnecessary expenses for the extraordinary measures needed to serve Ms Powell, including hiring private investigators and pursuing her across state lines.

Dominion is suing Ms Powell for $1.3bn claiming she defamed the company with conspiracy theories in the weeks after the election.

In Monday’s court filing Ms Powell and her defence team requested an extension until 22 March.

Ms Powell — who became notable for saying her lawsuits challenging the election were akin to "releasing the Kraken" and for spreading conspiracy theories — made the company the centre of her legal challenges to the 2020 election results.

The lawyer claimed that agents from Iran and China had compromised Dominion's voting machines so that they would change Donald Trump supporters' votes to votes for Joe Biden.

She also claimed that deceased Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez had some influence over the alleged software that would one day be used to defeat Mr Trump.

“Powell falsely claimed that Dominion had rigged the election, that Dominion was created in Venezuela to rig elections for Hugo Chávez, and that Dominion bribed Georgia officials for a no-bid contract,” the lawsuit reads.

Dominion is seeking $650m in reputational damages and another $650m for punitive damages.

The company claims it has spent millions providing security for their employees and for public relations work to maintain their image.

In addition to the $1.3bn, the company is also seeking a legal injunction against Ms Powell that would force her to remove all of her defamatory comments about Dominion and prevent her from making them again in the future.

Prior to the lawsuit, Dominion sent Ms Powell a cease and desist letter threatening legal action.

Rather than heeding the warning, Ms Powell doubled down and tweeted out that she would "retract nothing" because she had "#evidence" that Dominion was committing fraud.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies