Seven hundred eighty-seven and a half million dollars. We can now put a price tag on promoting election fraud conspiracies, as least as measured by the lawyers advising Fox News. That eye-popping sum has legal observers wondering how defendants in Dominion Voting Systems’ several other defamation lawsuits will weigh this decision in their own legal battles.
At least one prominent defendant, however, isn’t concerned by the massive settlement.
My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, who faces separate lawsuits from Dominion, a former Dominion employee, and another voting machine company, Smartmatic, for making false statements related to voting machines and a Dominion employee, sees the nine-figure payout as good news.
In response to a text inquiry as to whether the settlement would impact his own legal fights, Lindell told the Colorado Times Recorder, “This solidifies that I will not have any liability!!!” He ended his text with a thumbs-up emoji.
Dominion Voting Systems is suing Lindell and his company, MyPillow Inc., for $1.3 billion. A federal judge denied his motion to dismiss it in August of 2011, a few months after Lindell countersued for $1.6 billion. Former Dominion executive Eric Coomer is also suing Lindell for an amount to be determined at trial. Dominion competitor Smartmatic has its own lawsuit against Lindell and MyPillow for an unspecified amount, though its ongoing complaint against Fox News demands $2.7 billion.
Last month, Lindell told Business Insider he was forced to borrow $10 million last year to pay for his various legal expenses.
Indirectly the settlement has already resulted in Lindell paying Dominion: MyPillow was Fox News’ single largest advertiser on the networks’ prime time over the past two years, spending nearly $80 million on MyPillow ads.
Lindell did not respond to a request for clarification as to how he has come to this conclusion. However, later in the day he recounted his response to the Colorado Times Recorder on his FrankSpeech podcast. He expanded on his text to this reporter, telling host Brannon Howse that he concluded, “We’re going to be getting rid of these machines,” which was not part of his original response.
He went to insist that he won’t accept any amount of money in a settlement — presumably referring to his countersuit against Dominion — while at the same time repeating his unsubstantiated claims against Smartmatic.
The settlement in theory limits Dominion’s ability to collect damages from other defendants, like Lindell, as the company has now been substantially compensated for its losses, but that does not apply to the others who are suing him.
This article will be updated with any additional statements received.
