FILE — In this Dec. 2, 2020 file photo, Attorney Lin Wood, member of President Donald Trump’s legal team, gestures while speaking during a rally in Alpharetta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File).
A federal judge in Georgia has ordered former defamation attorney L. Lin Wood to give the court $2 million in cash as well as two properties he owns to secure a bond as he appeals a multimillion dollar judgment levied against him for defaming his former law partners.
A onetime pro-Donald Trump lawyer, long recognized as a prominent and respected member of the Peach State’s plaintiffs’ bar, Wood found himself on the defendant’s end of the legal system after a lengthy feud with his erstwhile colleagues about money. The lead attorney in the failed effort in Georgia to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Wood surrendered his law license in July 2023 after battling disbarment proceedings for years.
Attorneys Nicole Wade, Jonathan Grunberg, and Taylor Wilson have had it out with Wood since February 2020 over the terms of their departure from his law firm. After a series of abortive agreements and legal threats over how much — and when — the trio would be paid, Wood accused his former partners of being “criminal” extortionists on the Telegram app.
The federal lawsuit was filed in March 2022 — and the court ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor on a motion for summary judgment two years later.
The matter was then left to a jury in the Northern District of Georgia. Jurors in August found Wood liable to the tune of $4.5 million for defaming the trio, with sum accounts for damages of $3.75 million and $750,000 in legal expenses.
Since mid-September, both sides in the dispute have been arguing over what amount Wood should offer to move his appeal forward, as well as what, if anything, he might offer instead of cash.
Wood offered to provide the court with $2 million in cash, to be held in an “interest-bearing, joint account that will list as account holders/signatories the Defendant and [his attorney] or the Defendant and another individual designated by Plaintiffs” as well as a home in Atlanta “worth at least $1 million” and property in South Carolina worth about $5 million.
Wood’s former partners opposed the alternative bond in favor of a standard bond, but U.S. District Judge Michael L. Brown reasoned that Wood had sufficiently shown that he does “not have the liquid cash necessary for the issuance of a bond” as he is “unable to practice law and has lost his livelihood” and hasn’t “had an income since 2021.”
“The Court credits Defendant’s testimony and concludes he has objectively demonstrated his financial inability to post a full cash supersedeas bond,” Brown wrote in the 13-page order. “The Court thus waives that requirement and permits Defendant to post an alternative bond.”
However, Brown determined that Wood’s plan for keeping the value of the collateral safe was not sufficient. The judge said the $2 million cannot be placed in a joint account as it fails to address how the funds would be distributed if his appeal fails.
“Even if Plaintiffs appointed a representative to act as a joint owner of the account, given his status as a co-owner, Defendant could simply refuse to relinquish the funds to Plaintiffs, leading to additional, needless litigation,” Brown wrote. “He says he won’t, but he could always change his mind. A promise or best intentions is not the guarantee required of a bond.”
Brown also ordered Wood to transfer ownership from an LLC solely owned by Wood to Wood in his individual capacity to “ensure there are no complications should he need to sell the property.”
