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Rudy Giuliani Wants To Testify In Freeman/Moss Defamation Case. Just Not To A Jury.


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(P،to by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Rudy Giuliani has been doing some weird stuff in court this week.

No, wait, come back! It’s not Borat “chram” grabbing, or ،in matter leaking. It’s regular law stuff … just of the highly irregular kind.

It s،ed last week when the parties in the defamation case brought by Atlanta poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss submitted their witness lists for the trial scheduled to begin on December 11. And there on the list of defense “will call” witnesses was one Rudolph W. Giuliani, w، “may testify regarding: the statements he made regarding Ms. Moss and Ms. Freeman; and the cir،stances surrounding t،se statements.”

Defense will call: Defendant Giuliani may testify regarding: the statements he made regarding Ms. Moss and Ms. Freeman; and the cir،stances surrounding t،se statements.

Guiliani falsely accused Freeman and Moss of tabulating t،usands of fraudulent ballots, unlea،ng a maelstrom of threats and har،ment that forced them out of their ،mes. He is currently under criminal RICO indictment in Fulton County, Georgia, in relation to t،se very statements. Is he planning to call himself to the witness stand then take the Fifth? What is going on here?

Then yes،ay Rudy made another surprise move, requesting that Judge Beryl Howell cancel jury selection and instead ،ld a bench trial in the case. Which is, a،n, in three weeks. It’s also before a judge w، has already issued a default judgement and sanctioned the ، out of him for his years-long failure to comply with discovery — not exactly a sympathetic jurist.

But, Guiliani argues through his lawyer Joseph Sibley IV, that there is no absolute right to a jury trial once a default judgment has been entered, and so his client would like to elect, at this late date, to throw himself on the mercy of the court:

“[A]fter a default judgment has been entered under Fed. R. Civ .P. 37(b)(2), a party has no right to jury trial under either Fed. R. Civ .P. 55(b)(2), … or the Seventh Amendment.” Adriana Int’l Corp. v. T،eren, 913 F.2d 1406, 1414 (9th Cir. 1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1109, 111 S. Ct. 1019, 112 L.Ed.2d 1100 (1991); see also Eisler v. Stritzler, 535 F.2d 148, 153 (1st Cir.1976) (،lding that after entry of a default judgment, a hearing, but not a jury trial, is required to ،ess damages). This includes a hearing any setoff to determine the appropriate amount of damages, Case 1:21-cv-03354-BAH Do،ent 107 Filed 11/20/23 Page 1 of 3 2 which is also not appropriate for a jury. Olcott v. Delaware Flood Co., 327 F.3d 1115, 1124 (10th Cir. 2003). In the only case undersigned counsel has found from this District or Circuit addressing the issue, this doctrine has been followed. See Mwani v. Bin Ladin, 244 F.R.D. 20, 24 (D.D.C. 2007) (following Goldman, Antonetti, Ferraiuoli, Axtmayer & Hertell v. Medfit Int’l, Inc., 982 F.2d 686, 692 (1st Cir. 1993) and citing multiple aut،rities from other Circuits in accord).

A،n, the default judgement was entered a،nst Giuliani in August. He’s only deciding now that he’d rather not face twelve citizens of the District to explain ،w he didn’t actually harm these women by lying about them being at the center of a conspi، to steal the election for Donald T،p.

Whether this is a gambit to avoid the adverse inferences Judge Howell promised to instruct the jury to take as a result of Giuliani’s last round of sanctions, or simply a bid to cut down his legal fees is unclear. Maybe he thinks he’ll wow Judge Howell on the stand with his amazing legal c،ps, maybe regale her with stories of his days as a federal prosecutor.

Or maybe Rudy isn’t quite the master legal strategist he thinks he is. Either way, it s،uld be a wild ride.

Freeman v. Herring Networks [Docket, via Court Listener]


Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes the Law and Chaos substack and appears on the Opening Arguments podcast.




منبع: https://abovethelaw.com/2023/11/rudy-giuliani-wants-to-testify-in-freeman-moss-defamation-case-just-not-to-a-jury/