Defamation Lawsuit Over Statements Related to 2020 Georgia Ballot Counting Controversy Dismissed
From Pick v. Raffensperger, decided Nov. 22 by Judge Eleanor Ross (N.D. Ga.), but only posted several days ago on Westlaw (an appeal is pending):
On November 3, 2020—election day—State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, served as a site for ballot counting. The ballot counting activity at State Farm Arena was recorded in an over 20-hour long Surveillance video (“Video”). After the 2020 election, Plaintiff (a licensed but non-practicing attorney) volunteered to “assist with election related matters in Georgia” and, in that capacity, “helped organize and summarize investigative facts and affidavits” from individuals alleging “potential or actual irregularities, misconduct, or fraud in the administration” of the election. Two of the affidavits Plaintiff assisted with were from individuals alleging irregularities in ballot processing at State Farm Arena.
On December 3, 2020, the Georgia State Senate Election Law Subcommittee held a hearing about the “alleged election irregularities, misconduct, or fraud in the 2020 election.” Plaintiff attended the hearing and made a presentation using the Video. She did not show the Video in its entirety; rather, she “instructed the A/V tech multiple times to ‘fast forward’ or ‘back up’ to various times on the single video file[.]”
During her presentation, Plaintiff pointed to the ballot containers shown on the screen and said, “I’m going to call [the “containers for ballots”] a suitcase.” Plaintiff, the only person to present the Video at the hearing, focused her presentation “solely on questions and potential irregularities that anyone could observe from the [V]ideo, matched to the statements in witness affidavits,” and she raised “legitimate questions of why the ballots under the table were separate from the others and not coming from the same place that ballots had come from throughout the day.”
In Integrity Counts, Defendant referred to the segments of the Video that Plaintiff showed during her presentation at the December 3, 2020 hearing as (1) “GIULIANI’s SLICED-AND-DICED VIDEO,” (2) “deceptively sliced and edited so that it appeared to show the exact opposite of reality,” (3) “a slice of video that removed the clear evidence that Fulton County election works had protected the ballots and the process as required by law,” (4) “chopped up,” and “sliced and diced.” Defendant allegedly also testified that the Video was “doctored” or “false.” Plaintiff alleges that, through those statements, Defendant falsely accused Plaintiff of a crime under Georgia law—i.e., presenting misleading and fal
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