Kari Lake Attorney Response to Motions for Sanctions; Says They will Further Erode Trust in Elections

Following the dismissal of Kari Lake’s election challenge, Maricopa County, the Secretary of State’s Office (SOSO), and Democrat Governor-Elect Katie Hobbs all filed Motions for Sanctions and Applications for Attorney’s Fees Monday morning. Lake’s team responded, stating that sanctioning them in this trial would further erode trust in election systems.

“Trust in the election process is not furthered by punishing those who bring legitimate claims as Plaintiff did here. In fact, sanctioning Plaintiff would have the opposite effect,” according to a response from one of Lake’s attorneys, Bryan Blehm.

During closing arguments in the election challenge trial, Tom Liddy, representing Maricopa County, clearly stated that the defendants would be seeking sanctions. In his ruling on the case, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson gave defendants until 8 am Monday to file and plaintiffs until 5 pm the same day to respond. Both parties adhered to the deadlines.

In the motion filed by Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (R), the defendants stated that Lake’s lawsuit was “frivolous” and just another step in her “attack” on Arizona’s elections. If the county’s motion goes through, this would not be the first sanctions placed on Lake’s attorneys in the past month. In December, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi sanctioned Lake and State Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley) in a lawsuit seeking to bar the use of electronic voting machines in the 2022 election. The defendants brought the previous sanctions up, stating plaintiffs, like in that case, only brought this challenge for “purely political – not legal – purposes.”

In this trial, Lake had two claims and had to prove that Maricopa County intentionally caused printer issues on election day that altered the final vote count in Hobbs’s favor and that the county purposefully violated the chain of custody laws which also changed the count. The defendants cite Arizona law to say that sanctions to award attorney’s fees are justified because Lake and the plaintiffs “should have known” they did not have the evidence needed in this trial but went forward anyway.

The defendants also argued that the Plaintiff’s claims were made “in bad faith” as an attempt to spread disinformation about election results, which would also be grounds for sanctions.

Ultimately, the county, SOSO, and Governor-Elect Hobbs each requested attorney’s fees, totaling nearly $700,000.

“Enough really is enough. It is past time to end unfounded attacks on elections and unwarranted accusations against elections officials,” according to the county’s motion. “The Maricopa County Defendants therefore ask this Court to impose sanctions against Plaintiff Kari Lake and her attorneys, Bryan Blehm and Kurt Olsen,”

In response to the motions, Blehm stated that the defendants did not meet the “high bar” of establishing entitlement to sanctions. Under the law, a party’s claims must constitute harassment, be groundless, and not be made in good faith to warrant sanctions.

The plaintiffs pointed to Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer, who testified in the trial, as a reason their claims were justified. The plaintiffs state Richer gave differing statements on the chain of custody for drop-off ballots on election day, at one point saying ballots were counted at a third-party company called Runbeck but then stated ballots were counted by the county before going to Runbeck. Blehm stated that this inconsistency proves that their claims were made with justifiable concern, so sanctions are not applicable in this situation.

“Plaintiff’s put forth evidence in good faith that showed substantial support for her claims—claims which also remain of great public concern. Defendants’ motion for sanctions is not supported by case law or the record,” Blehm concluded.

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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Katie Hobbs. Photo “Kari Lake” by The Kari Lake. Background Photo “Arizona State Capitol” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.

 

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6 Thoughts to “Kari Lake Attorney Response to Motions for Sanctions; Says They will Further Erode Trust in Elections”

  1. […] told AZ Family that Brnovich should be disbarred. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, who asked for sanctions against Kari Lake and Mark Finchem’s attorneys for filing a lawsuit attempting to […]

  2. Frene Ignacio

    I still have doubts in the election system in AZ and US. The trust has been compromised. I hope those dishonest politicians’ conscience will not be at peace.

  3. stuman15

    Trust in Arizona elections does not exist. Democrats will do anything to win elections. There are 1,270,544 registered democrats in Arizona. Yet there were 1,276,937 votes cast for the democratic challanger for governor. Lets say some independents voted for Hobbs that still would have required about 95% of registered democrats to have voted for Hobbs. That is a miracle. So many people voting for Habbs when she would not debate, hold rallies of do anything to promote her canditacy. I guess that is the decocrats new strategy. Biden did it so did the guy in Pennsylvania. Hide andyou will be found.

  4. Shirley

    Well guess we will just have to start a recall of Hobbs if she actually is sworn in.. You’d have to be a moron to believe she truly won. The moment she refused to recuse herself the fix was in
    She made a mess of our primary also. Her husband money bought &paid for the governs office. We the people are not going down without a fight. All the news media who have gone after Kati is because she knows they are gutter trash & they can’t stand she knows all their dirty tricks . God’ is watching & I’d be very worried as he knows exactly what all of you have done. Follow the money trail to everyone including the the presiding judge.

  5. phxgeo

    This lawsuit by Hobbs is downright a communist way to shut people up when they have a real claim against their government. This is the basic foundation of the 1ST. Amendment. If there is a frivolous lawsuit it is the one that Hobbs filed. She should be fined, pay the lawyers of Kari and sanctioned. This action by her PROVES she is not the caliber of Governor of Arizona. If she keeps this job the State of Arizona will look like Kommiforna or a colony of the CCP.

  6. tony

    How can there be a On-Going Root Cause Technical Failure Analysis of Voting Machine Shrink to Fit operations and @maricopacounty BOS @billgatesaz @Steve_Gallardo @jacksellers Certify Voting Machinery for the last 3 elections? https://azsos.gov/elections/about-elections/voting-equipment

    https://mobile.twitter.com/KariLakeWarRoom/status/1607086034663387138

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