On January 8, Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against Sydney Powell, a former Trump campaign lawyer, who made public statements asserting that Dominion’s election technology helped falsify the 2020 Presidential election results. Plaintiffs brought the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking $1.3 billion in damages.
The Parties
The three named plaintiffs are US Dominion, Inc., Dominion Voting Systems, and Dominion Voting Systems Corporation (collectively, Dominion of Plaintiffs). The first two plaintiffs are Delaware corporations, and the third, Dominion Voting Systems Corporation, is an Ontario corporation.
The plaintiffs are suing Sydney Powell, Sidney Powell, P.C., and Defending the Republic, Inc. (DTR). Sidney Powell, P.C. is Powell’s law firm. DTR is an organization established to “defend and protect the integrity of elections in the United States.” Its website asks for donations to support this mission. All three defendant entities share the same address in Dallas, TX.
The Legal Claims
The Plaintiffs put forth two legal claims under Georgia Law. Count one alleges defamation per se. The second count asserts that Powell’s false and defamatory statements “constitute deceptive trade practices in violation of Georgia law, O.C.G.A. Sec. 10-1-372(a)(8), as they disparage Dominion’s goods and services by false and misleading representations of fact.”
Why Dominion Brought the Lawsuit
Dominion’s CEO, John Poulos, boils the lawsuit down to this: “…the question for us is that there has been irreparable damage done to our company. If we could trade our situation today and go back to our reputation of November 1 prior to the defamation campaign that Sidney Powell and others launched against our company, we would do so in a minute. This lawsuit is the first step to restore our good names.” Poulos added that employee families and thousands of customers using their voting technology have staked their reputations in Dominion. He views this lawsuit as their chance to fight all these claims.
Powell’s Alleged Defamatory Statements
There are many pages of allegations in the complaint containing the dates, events, and venues, at which Powell commented on the role she says Dominion played in the presidential vote. For example, the complaint states that Powell falsely told a global audience at a televised press conference that Dominion was “created in Venezuela at the direction of Hugo Chávez to make sure he never lost an election,” and that Dominion flipped votes from Trump to Biden by running an algorithm that automatically flips all the votes. Plaintiffs also cite Powell’s statement that “there should never be another election conducted in this country, I don’t care if it’s for local dog catcher, using a Dominion machine…” as a defamatory statement that harmed Plaintiffs.
The complaint alleges that Powell knew these statements and many others were false and repeatedly failed to provide substantiating evidence. Plaintiffs refer to audits and hand recounts in multiple states using Dominion technology that resulted in findings of no fraud as well as several judicial dismissals of cases that contained these allegations for lack of evidence and Attorney General Barr’s statement that there was no indication of voting fraud.
Claims of Harm From “Viral Disinformation”
Plaintiffs allege that Dominion “has suffered enormous reputational and financial harm and its employees’ lives have been put in danger. As a result of the viral disinformation campaign against Dominion, the company and its employees have been targeted and have received calls for jail time and death threats.”
Dominion puts much emphasis on how the viral spread of the alleged falsehoods contributed to its harm. The complaint features numerous tweets that repeat Powell’s statements alleging that Dominion paid off state governors, including Brian Kemp of Georgia, to allow its machines to be installed before the 2020 elections.
The Plaintiffs say that the viral social media dissemination of the alleged falsehoods has deterred elected officials, insurers, and potential investors from doing business with Dominion. The company projects lost profits of $200 million over the next five years now that it claims future contracts and renewals are in jeopardy. Plaintiffs assert defendants have “irreparably damaged Dominion’s reputation and destroyed the resale value of a business that was worth between $450 million and $500 million before the viral disinformation campaign.”
Plaintiffs’ Request
Dominion has requested a jury trial and that the Court enter an award and judgment in its favor and against all Defendants jointly and severally. The specific demands are as follows:
- Compensatory damages of not less than $651,735,000
- Punitive damages of not less than $651,735,000
- All expenses and costs, including attorneys’ fees
- A narrowly-tailored permanent injunction requiring the removal of all the Defendants’ statements that are determined to be false and defamatory
- Enjoining the Defendants from repeating such statements or engaging in any further deceptive trade practices relating to Dominion
- Other and further relief as the Court deems appropriate
Experts May Be Called to Assist
This case promises to be extremely high profile and complex. Therefore, parties may call on the assistance of experts to assess the evidence or lack thereof, and help the jury determine whether the defendants’ statements were false. Given the claims of lost profits, the parties might also need experts to delve into Dominion’s business, customers, and financial projections.
