Trump's former lawyer Giuliani stumbles in bid to appeal defamation ruling
Source: Reuters
May 14, 2024 4:42 PM EDT Updated 3 hours ago
NEW YORK, May 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Tuesday rejected Rudy Giuliani's attempt to appeal a $148 million defamation judgment won by former Georgia election workers, saying Donald Trump's former lawyer should focus on his own stalled bankruptcy case.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane agreed with creditors, including defamed election workers Wandrea "Shaye" Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who complained that Giuliani had made no progress on selling his assets or resolving his debts. Giuliani must move on from the "appeal or bust" approach that he has taken since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, the judge said during a court hearing in White Plains, New York.
"I see it as an impediment to progress in the bankruptcy," Lane said of the proposed appeal. Giuliani needs Lane's permission to appeal the defamation judgment because his Chapter 11 filing automatically stopped all litigation against him, including the case he lost.
Lane had previously allowed Giuliani to seek a new trial or challenge the size of the judgment awarded to Moss and Freeman, whom Giuliani had falsely accused of fraud after former Republican President Trump's defeat in the 2020 election. But after a federal judge rejected Giuliani's request in April, Lane ruled that the appeal should go no further.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/trumps-former-lawyer-giuliani-stumbles-bid-appeal-defamation-ruling-2024-05-14/
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