Sept. 5 (Reuters) – It has been nearly four years since Rudy Giuliani became the public face of Donald Trump's failed legal efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
In the latest twist that led to Giuliani's career-ending work for the former Republican president, his $2 million in outstanding legal fees for the Trump campaign could now be collected by two election workers in the state of Georgia who are falsely accused of voter fraud.
Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea' “Shaye” Moss said Friday they are entitled to Giuliani's claim for his unpaid Trump fees, as part of their larger effort to collect a $148 million defamation judgment entered against Giuliani in December. Giuliani testified in bankruptcy court Earlier this year, he revealed he was owed about $2 million after the Trump campaign hired him to run the campaign following Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. He said the fees were to be paid by the 2020 campaign and the Republican National Committee. Freeman and Moss are seeking an order This would allow them to seize the claim for legal fees and other assets owned by Giuliani, including three World Series rings, several watches and homes in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida.
“Now that plaintiffs can finally enforce their judgment, the court should not hesitate to use the enforcement tools available under New York law,” Freeman and Moss said in their lawsuit.
Lawyers for Freeman and Moss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Giuliani spokesman Ted Goodman on Friday called Freeman and Moss' $148 million compensation payment “objectively unreasonable” and sharply criticized their new lawsuit. Goodman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the $2 million fee claim. Freeman and Moss's lawsuit comes two months after a judge dismissed Giuliani's bankruptcy case, leaving him vulnerable to creditors.
Freeman and Moss were poll workers in predominantly Democratic Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, where a strong polling result helped Biden secure his narrow victory in Georgia.
Trump and his surrogates used surveillance video of the vote count at State Farm Arena to falsely accuse Freeman and Moss of processing “suitcases” full of fraudulent ballots for Biden late at night on Election Day, after most poll workers and poll watchers had already left the building.
Freeman and Moss told Reuters in December 2021 that the allegations had derailed their lives. A federal judge in Washington, DC, found Giuliani guilty of defamation against Freeman and Moss in August 2023 as punishment for failing to release electronic records during litigation, paving the way for the $148 million verdict. Giuliani was disbarred in New York in July after a state court found that the former New York mayor and U.S. attorney lied when he claimed the election was stolen from Trump.- In other legal news, a Delaware judge tasked with deciding the amount of compensation for the lawyers who successfully invalidated Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package received an unsolicited order from the state's highest court last month: No windfall gains.- A company that beat a U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit claiming it tricked consumers into buying print subscriptions has asked a U.S. judge to award the agency $5.4 million in legal fees for “dramatically exceeding its authority.”
In a court document filed Tuesday, lawyers for American Future Systems said the FTC must be forced to pay legal fees after losing its case last year following a 15-day trial.
– A Washington State appeals court ruled last week that a public school district cannot force its insurer to pay a $1.77 million settlement it reached with a Christian high school football coach whose lawsuit over on-field prayers went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court ruled in favor of Joseph Kennedy v. Bremerton School District in 2022, finding that the district violated Kennedy's rights after he was suspended for refusing to stop praying with players on the field after games. — A lawyer for Paul Hastings, who is managing the bankruptcy estate of an exiled Chinese businessman convicted of fraud in July, has sued U.S. law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to recover money they say was fraudulently transferred to the firm. Boies Schiller received more than $653,000 in legal fees from a shell company owned by Guo Wengui, trustee Luc Despins claimed in a lawsuit filed Friday in Connecticut Bankruptcy CourtGuo allegedly used the shell company to evade his creditors, Despins said.
Boies Schiller had previously represented Guo, who appears under several aliases, including Ho Wan Kwok, in several court cases and obtained an arbitration award regarding legal costs.
(Legal Fee Tracker is a weekly feature covering attorneys' fees and disputes in class action lawsuits, bankruptcies and other matters. Please send tips or suggestions to D.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com.)
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