Ben Margot/AP
- Dominion Voting Systems says Sidney Powell avoided being served with a lawsuit for “weeks.”
- In a court filing, Dominion said they hired private investigators and searched across state lines.
- Dominion is suing Powell for defamation, seeking $1.3 billion in damages.
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Dominion Voting Systems says that attorney Sidney Powell “evaded” being served with their defamation lawsuit for weeks, prompting them to take measures like hiring private investigators to find Powell and “pursuing” her across state lines.
The voting technology company is suing Powell for $1.3 billion in damages for defamation in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
In a Monday court filing, Powell and her defense team requested an extension until March 22 to respond to Dominion’s initial complaint, which was 124 pages long and contained over 2,000 pages of exhibits.
In a short Tuesday filing, Dominion agreed to the request for an extension as a “professional courtesy,” but said that “Powell refused to respond to requests from Plaintiffs’ counsel about executing waivers of service of process” and that she avoided being served for “weeks.”
Dominion's lawyers said that Powell's evasions ended up "forcing Dominion to incur unnecessary expenses for extraordinary measures to effect service, including hiring private investigators and pursuing Powell across state lines."
In their criminal complaint, filed January 8, Dominion said that Powell caused "unprecedented harm" with her statements accusing Dominion machines, without evidence, of "flipping" evidence.
"During a Washington, D.C. press conference, a Georgia political rally, and a media blitz, Powell falsely claimed that Dominion had rigged the election, that Dominion was created in Venezuela to rig elections for Hugo Chávez, and that Dominion bribed Georgia officials for a no-bid contract," the company said in the complaint.
Dominion's ballot marking devices and ballot scanners were used statewide in Georgia, where Powell and other allies of former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that the election was rigged. Dominion ballot scanners are also used in other jurisdictions throughout the US and there is no evidence that the equipment "flips" votes.
In addition to Powell, Dominion has sued Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani for defamation, also seeking $1.3 billion in damages from him. The company's lawyers also recently sent letters to social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Parler, Facebook, and YouTube, to preserve postings from Trump's campaign, a number of his biggest allies, and several conservative media stars.
Dominion isn't the only election technology company pursuing legal action in response to election misinformation spread by prominent conservatives and news networks.
Voting technology company Smartmatic, which Trump allies also falsely accused of engaging in election fraud, also recently filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News.