Mike Lindell gives a thumbs up as he passes by a rally for supporters of former President Donald Trump, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee).
Minnesota pillow magnate Mike Lindell has suffered yet another self-inflicted loss in a long-running civil lawsuit after shirking discovery obligations. Now, the pro-Donald Trump businessman may be forced to personally appear before a judge and explain himself.
The case concerns a disastrous challenge Lindell issued, in which he failed to prove interference in the 2020 election, and for which his company is now on the hook for over $5 million.
On Friday, a federal judge issued a terse order after the company appears to have entirely ignored a motion to compel responses to requests for the production of documents relevant to the case.
“Respondent has not responded to Petitioner’s Motion to Compel within the deadline to respond and has neither sought an extension nor otherwise communicated with the Court regarding the Motion,” Magistrate Judge Dulce J. Foster writes. “The Court therefore finds Respondent has waived any objection and the Motion to Compel is GRANTED.”
The order, which is all of one long paragraph, uses bold type on several occasions to stress a series of additional deadlines imposed on Lindell Management LLC — as well as the potential penalty in store for the company should the court’s discovery orders be violated again.
“Respondent must respond in writing to Petitioner’s Requests for Production by August 23, 2024, failing which the Court will order Respondent to appear at a hearing with its counsel and a managing officer of the company to explain its continued non-compliance with its discovery obligations,” the order continues. “Petitioner shall file a letter on or before August 26, 2024 updating the Court on the status of Respondent’s responses to Petitioner’s Requests for Production.”
The road to legal sanction in the case has been long, bumpy, and a literal challenge of Lindell’s own making.
In 2021, the outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump issued the “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge at a South Dakota election fraud symposium — showcasing data purportedly proving the People’s Republic of China had interfered with the 2020 U.S. election.
Engineer Robert Zeidman — himself a Trump supporter — picked up the poly-foam gauntlet thrown down by the one-time QVC star. Despite severe doubts about his own abilities, Zeidman won the contest.
Lindell’s namesake organization, Lindell Management LLC, hosted the cyber symposium that featured the “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge.”
When issuing the challenge, Lindell said his team of experts would provide “cyber data and packet captures from the 2020 November election” and said the upshot of the challenge was to “find proof that this cyber data is not valid data from the November Election.”
Contestants who could prove the data was not from the 2020 election would be awarded $5 million, the announcement promised.
The rules of the challenge also provided that any disputes about winning or losing would be decided by mandatory arbitration.
More Law&Crime coverage: Trump-supporting ‘Prove Mike Wrong’ challenge winner awarded attorney’s fees after Mike Lindell company’s ‘delinquent’ responses to discovery demands
After proving Lindell wrong, the MyPillow founder’s hand-selected three-member panel ruled against the engineer. Arbitration ensued and Zeidman won. Lindell filed in state court to vacate the award. Zeidman appealed in federal court to enforce the award. Both cases were eventually consolidated and removed to federal court.
In February, a Minnesota federal court vindicated the arbitrator’s analysis and Zeidman’s $5 million win.
“The panel concluded that Zeidman proved that each file did not include packet capture data and thus was not related to the November 2020 election, so he had satisfied the Challenge rules, and was entitled to the $5 million reward,” the opinion enforcing the award by U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim reads.
In ruling for Zeidman, the federal court also tacked on post-judgment interest that began to accrue since April 2023 — when the arbitration panel first ruled in his favor.
Since then, the company sustained a steady stream of legal losses. Their attorneys dropped out of the case — repeatedly. Meanwhile, the court repeatedly ruled in Zeidman’s favor on discovery issues.
Earlier this month, the engineer was awarded attorneys fees over Lindell Management’s discovery-related delinquencies.
Friday’s order grants the plaintiff’s motion filed on Aug. 8 — which is actually nothing new. Rather, the recent motion simply reiterates weeks-old discovery-related obligations.
“On July 17, 2024, the Court ordered Lindell Management LLC to respond, in writing, to Robert Zeidman’s post-judgment requests for production of documents on July 31, 2024,” Zeidman’s attorney Cary Joshi wrote. “To date, Lindell Management LLC has not served written responses to Mr. Zeidman’s requests for production. Mr. Zeidman moves the Court for another order compelling Lindell Management LLC to comply with the Court’s July 17, 2024 order.”
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