Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss asked a federal judge to bar Rudolph Giuliani from continuing to make unfounded accusations that they cheated Donald Trump out of votes in the 2020 election.
Two former Georgia election workers who successfully sued Rudolph W. Giuliani for spreading baseless lies about them after the 2020 presidential election sued him again on Monday, seeking to bar him from continuing to repeat those falsehoods.
Lawyers for the election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, also asked the Federal District Court in Washington on Monday to force Mr. Giuliani to pay the $148 million in damages he owes the women immediately because of his financial troubles. Typically, there is a 30-day delay before a defendant can be forced to pay.
On Friday, a jury awarded the damages to Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss for the destruction of their reputations and the infliction of significant emotional strain.
During the weeklong trial to determine the amount of compensation and in the days after, Mr. Giuliani, speaking in interviews and to reporters outside the courthouse, reasserted his debunked claims that the women sought to deprive President Donald J. Trump of victory as they counted votes in Fulton County, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2020.
In the new lawsuit, Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss are asking that the court force Mr. Giuliani to stop making the baseless allegations.
The two actions on Monday signal that the women will continue to press their case aggressively against Mr. Giuliani after the jury’s verdict on Friday.
Mr. Giuliani’s false accusations about Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss began when he was serving as Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer. At the time, he was helping to lead Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
“Defendant Giuliani has proven himself to be an exceptionally recalcitrant litigant, and has demonstrated an unwillingness to comply with judicial process, including orders to pay attorney’s fees and costs,” according to Monday’s court filing in the women’s first lawsuit against Mr. Giuliani.
“There is especially good reason to believe that Defendant Giuliani intends to evade payment of the judgment by any means he can devise,” the filing said.
Mr. Giuliani has refused to turn over to the court information about his assets that could establish his net worth. Lawyers for Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss said there was a “substantial risk” that Mr. Giuliani would liquidate what assets he had before the women saw any of the damages.
After the verdict on Friday, a lawyer familiar with his legal situation said Mr. Giuliani was likely to file for bankruptcy.
Mr. Giuliani is being sued by a former lawyer for unpaid bills and faces another defamation suit stemming from his work seeking to keep Mr. Trump in power. He is also under criminal indictment in Georgia related to these efforts.
E. Jean Carroll, a former advice columnist and fixture in Manhattan’s media circles, won a defamation lawsuit against Mr. Trump this year. But like Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump continued to defame her, and so she sued him again.
Paying damages can be dragged out for years.
Alan Feuer contributed reporting.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
