(Photo
by
Drew
Angerer/Getty
Images)
For
someone
who
was
recently
disbarred,
Rudy
Giuliani
sure
does
spend
a
lot
of
time
in
court.
Unfortunately
for
him,
it’s
mostly
as
a
defendant,
since
he’s
being
sued
for
his
antics
in
the
last
election
by
Dominion
Voting
Systems,
its
competitor
Smartmatic,
and
Ruby
Freeman
and
Shaye
Moss,
the
Atlanta
poll
workers
he
defamed.
In
2023,
his
years-long
refusal
to
cooperate
with
discovery
in
the
Freeman/Moss
suit
resulted
in
a
default
judgment
against
him,
followed
by
a
$148
million
jury
verdict.
America’s
Mayor
appealed
to
the
DC
Circuit,
while
simultaneously
filing
for
bankruptcy
in
New
York.
It
does
not
seem
to
have
occurred
to
him
that
the
automatic
stay
under
Chapter
11
would
halt
his
appeal,
along
with
the
plaintiffs’
collection
efforts.
After
spending
the
summer
trying
and
failing
to
convince
US
Bankruptcy
Judge
Sean
Lane
to
un-stay
the
appeal,
he
flunked
out
of
bankruptcy
court
with
nothing
to
show
for
it
but
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars
of
legal
and
administrative
fees.
Now
he’s
back
before
the
DC
Circuit,
where
he
hopes
to
convince
Judges
Millet,
Pillard,
and
Pan
that
Judge
Beryl
Howell,
who
presided
over
his
trial,
doesn’t
know
how
to
law
good.
His
argument
appears
to
be
that
there
was
no
actual
malice
in
his
continued
repetition
of
the
lies
about
the
plaintiffs,
even
after
Georgia
election
officials
told
him
he
was
wrong,
because
those
officials
—
all
of
whom
were
Republicans,
BTW
—
were
“biased.”
Defendant
had
no
obligation
to
accept
the
denials
of
the
biased
Georgia
officials.
At
the
time
the
officials
denied
election
misconduct,
Georgia
had
already
certified
the
election
results
in
favor
of
Biden.
Georgia
officials
had
an
obvious
motive
to
make
statements
that
supported
the
prior
institutional
determination
that
election
fraud
had
not
occurred.
Meanwhile
in
the
Southern
District
of
New
York,
Giuliani
is
contorting
himself
like
a
circus
clown
to
stop
Freeman
and
Moss
from
seizing
everything
but
his
toenail
clippings
to
satisfy
their
judgment.
He
wants
to
claim
the
homestead
exception
for
his
condo
in
Florida,
despite
the
fact
that
he
testified
in
the
bankruptcy
case
that
he
spends
70-80
percent
of
his
time
in
New
York,
his
bank
statements
all
list
his
New
York
address,
and
the
majority
of
his
podcasts
are
beamed
out
of
his
New
York
condo.
He
tried
to
sell
the
New
York
condo,
knocking
down
the
price
by
$525,000,
until
the
judge
ordered
him
to
knock
it
off
and
quit
moving
assets
around.
His
son,
Andrew
Giuliani,
filed
an
intervenor
motion
claiming
that
his
dad
gifted
him
his
four
World
Series
rings
in
2018,
and
Rudy
borrowed
back
the
one
from
2000’s
“Subway
Series”
against
the
New
York
Mets,
so
Freeman
and
Moss
should
not
be
able
to
seize
any
of
them.
And
Rudy
says
that
many
of
his
possessions
are
priceless,
even
irreplaceable,
so
the
court
should
just
put
them
under
the
control
of
the
receiver
who
will
release
them
once
Rudy
wins
his
appeal
at
the
DC
Circuit:
[S]ome
of
the
property
can
be
characterized
as
“collectibles.”
This
sub-category
includes,
for
example,
sports
memorabilia,
as
well
as
a
1980
Mercedes
automobile,
previously
owned
by
Lauren
Bacall.
Again,
sports
memorabilia
and
a
classic
car
can
be
priced
and
sold,
but
restitution
in
money
would
not
make
Defendant
truly
whole.
Again,
Defendant
asks
the
Court
to
couple
a
turnover/receivership
order
with
an
order
that
a
receiver
hold
the
property
at
issue,
but
not
sell
it
until
after
the
D.C.
Circuit
rules
on
Defendant’s
expedited
appeal.
Lauren
Bacall’s
Merc!
But
Rudy’s
lawyer
Ken
Caruso
saved
his
best
material
for
Donald
Trump.
Specifically,
he
wants
to
make
sure
that
Freeman
and
Moss
aren’t
allowed
to
embarrass
the
former
president
before
the
2024
election
by
dunning
him
for
the
legal
work
he
stiffed
Rudy
on
four
years
ago
as
he
tried
to
overturn
the
2020
election.
The
Court,
in
its
discretion,
should
postpone
a
turnover
of
this
claim
until
November
6,
2024,
the
day
after
Election
Day.
Otherwise,
Plaintiffs
will
or
may
use
this
assignment
for
an
improper,
political
(or,
at
least,
collateral)
purpose,
creating
the
confusing,
and
inaccurate,
appearance
that
Defendant
is
now
somehow
suing
candidate
Trump,
thereby
generating
an
accompanying,
and
unnecessary,
media
frenzy.
Plainly,
the
value
of
this
claim
will
not
depreciate
between
now
and
November
6,
2024.
It’s
not
clear
whether
this
is
a
cognizable
ground
for
Judge
Lewis
Liman
to
delay
ruling
on
the
motion.
But
it
is
very
funny,
particularly
in
light
of
Trump’s
apparent
admission
that
he
viewed
the
fee
as
contingent.
According
to
Special
Counsel
Jack
Smith’s
latest
filing
in
the
Trump
election
interference
case:
[White
House
lawyer
Eric
Herschmann]
repeatedly
gave
the
defendant
his
honest
assessment
that
[Giuliani]
could
not
mount
successful
legal
challenges
to
the
election.
For
instance,
when
the
defendant
told
that
he
was
going
to
put
[Giuliani]
in
charge
of
the
Campaign’s
legal
efforts
but
pay
him
only
if
he
succeeded,
[Herschmann]
told
the
defendant
he
would
never
have
to
pay
[Giuliani]
anything;
in
response,
the
defendant
laughed
and
said,
“we’ll
see.”
Indeed,
Rudy
was
not
successful.
But
perhaps
he’ll
get
a
mulligan
in
a
month.
Put
him
in,
Coach!
He’s
ready
to
play!*
Plus
he
really
needs
the
money.
*Offer
not
available
in
actual
courts
of
law.
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.