(Picture by JIM WATSON/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
Mike Lindell simply put a chapter lawyer on his payroll, however not for the rationale you suppose.
Sure, the MyPillow CEO is dealing with a cash crunch since all these main retailers received the woke thoughts virus and stopped promoting his “lumpy pillows” of their shops. However in truth he’s employed Thomas Miller, a bankruptcy lawyer from Wayzata, Minnesota, for a subject journey to the eighth Circuit to enchantment an arbitration ruling. (In all probability due to the mustache.)
As with a lot of the Pillow Puffer’s authorized troubles, this case has its roots in his election denial. To wit, in August of 2021, Lindell hosted a cyberfraud hootenanny in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at which he plunked a bunch of information on the desk and supplied $5 million to anybody who might show that it wasn’t proof of election fraud.
Software program developer Robert Zeidman bellied as much as the bar and demonstrated that not one of the proffered bits and bytes have been election information. However Lindell refused to pay up, so Zeidman took him to arbitration, as per the principles of the “Show Mike Unsuitable Contest.”
The three-judge panel of arbitrators unanimously agreed with Zeidman, however Lindell nonetheless refused to pay, so the events wound up within the District Court docket of Minnesota. There, Choose John Tunheim grumbled that he didn’t essentially agree with the arbitrators, however that didn’t change the authorized customary to overturn a binding arbitration award.
“The place events conform to arbitrate, a court docket can’t substitute a judicial willpower for the arbitrator’s choice,” he groused, including that “the Court docket’s potential disagreement with the end result isn’t the usual upon which to assessment an arbitration award. The Court docket should solely determine if the panel was arguably making use of the contract.”
So on February 24, Choose Tunheim gave Lindell 30 days to pony up the $5 million plus curiosity since April of 2023. And on the thirtieth day, he seen an enchantment to the eighth Circuit.
Lindell hasn’t requested Choose Tunheim for a keep of the judgment, seemingly as a result of the unique arbitration language, which was drafted by Lindell’s private legal professional Kurt Olsen, defers payout till all appeals are exhausted. (Both that, or each single lawyer in Pillowland is a whole bloody fool.)
Additionally this week, Lindell’s legal professionals Andrew Parker and Alec Beck withdrew their appearance within the trial court docket for the arbitration case. Assorted counsel from Minnesota agency Parker, Daniels, Kibort noped out of representing him within the election defamation instances after the pillow magnate made what he known as the “brave” choice to stiff them on the invoice “to guard my firm.”
This was the final Lindell-related outing for Parker, who received sanctioned together with Olsen and Alan Dershowitz for submitting a rubbish election go well with on behalf of Kari Lake in Arizona.
On the plus aspect, we’d truly get some attention-grabbing new arguments from the chapter lawyer. And if it doesn’t pan out on the eighth Circuit, presumably Miller’s different providers would possibly turn out to be useful.
Zeidman v. Lindell Management LLC [Circuit Docket via Court Listener]
In re: Lindell Management LLC Litigation [District Docket via Court Listener]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore the place she produces the Legislation and Chaos substack and podcast.