Maricopa County Judge Peter Thompson denied Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County’s motions for sanctions and attorney fees against Kari Lake and her lawyers.
Thompson dismissed Kari Lake’s lawsuit against Katie Hobbs in the 2022 midterm election on Saturday.
Afterward, Maricopa County and the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office asked a judge for thousands of dollars in sanctions and attorney fees.
“Courts are established by Arizona’s Constitution and statutes to resolve actual disputes between parties,” Maricopa County Deputy Attorney Thomas P. Liddy wrote in a 15-page memo.
“They do not exist so that candidates for political office can attempt to make political statements and fundraise. And they should not be used to harass political opponents and sow completely unfounded doubts about the integrity of elections. All of those things happened in this matter.”
JUST IN: Maricopa County, Katie Hobbs seek thousands of dollars in sanctions against Kari Lake after her election lawsuit was dismissed https://t.co/AzKmA3o7KS pic.twitter.com/p2jImBYvqn
— azfamily 3TV CBS 5 (@azfamily) December 26, 2022
"Katie Hobbs’ Motion sought over $450,000 for the Elias Law Group, founded by corrupt Hillary attorney Marc Elias," The Gateway Pundit noted.
After the Motion was filed, Kari Lake told The Gateway Pundit, “While Katie Hobbs and Marc Elias continue their crusade to destroy free and fair elections in Arizona, my team and I will continue to move forward with our case showing overwhelming evidence of misconduct in the General election.”
Kari Lake’s attorneys filed a response to Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County’s Motions For Attorney Fees And Sanctions yesterday, where they called out Maricopa County Election Director Scott Jarrett for his conflicting statements regarding ballot printer malfunctions on the stand.
Lake's response stated:
Defendant Maricopa County’s Motion for Sanctions and Application for Attorney’s Fees under A.R.S. § 12-349 (the “Motion”), and Defendant Hobbs joinder in that Motion has no basis in law or fact. At issue here is whether or not counsel for Plaintiff Kari Lake should be sanctioned for bringing claims that Defendants argue are not only without substantial justification but were also brought in bad faith and constitute harassment. Though this Court found for Defendants on the issue of whether Plaintiff had shown clear and convincing evidence of Defendants’ “intentional misconduct”, neither the Court’s findings nor the record support Defendants’ motion for sanctions. In fact, Arizona law and the record at trial reflect that Defendants’ Motion for sanctions has no basis whatsoever. Moreover, the issues raised before this Court were of significant concern to millions of Arizona voters as to the causes of chaos that arose on Election Day—and the administration of elections in Maricopa County generally—and Plaintiff’s claims deserved to be brought and heard.
Specifically, Plaintiff’s claims were neither legally groundless nor were they brought in bad faith or for purposes of harassment as is required under Arizona law to justify sanctions. Plaintiff’s Complaint laid out detailed facts and alleged violations of law supported by the sworn testimony of over two hundred witnesses, including employees from MCTEC2 and Runbeck Election Services (“Runbeck”); the testimony of credentialed experts in electronic voting systems and election voter surveys; and internal government documents only recently made public. The Complaint unequivocally identified specific numbers of illegal votes that far exceeded the 17,117 vote margin between Plaintiff Kari Lake and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
The judge denied the motions for sanctions and attorney fees but awarded Katie Hobbs for taxable costs, including witness fees and ballot inspector fees.
Read the ruling below:
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