Arizona legal analyst Tom Ryan isn't a fan of failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. In late March, Lake surrendered her right to defend herself against Stephen Richer's defamation lawsuit over her election lies. But, of course, she has continued to spew election lies.
The Maricopa County Recorder who presided over the 2022 election, Stephen Richer, filed a defamation claim against Lake in June, and called Lake's request for a jury for the default judgment hearing a "complete and total surrender on liability."
Ryan spoke with host Brahm Resnik to break it down.
"Start at the beginning because a lot of folks were confused, especially journalists, about what this default judgment was that she was seeking in this motion," Resnik said.
"She's seeking it, but she's not entitled to what she's asking for. Here's what happened," Ryan explained. "The case went all the way up to the Arizona Supreme Court. We won't get into the complexities of it all. It came back. She had 20 days to file an answer. She failed to do so. She defaulted. So anything she files after the default on Monday, March 25th, is a nullity."
"So, this document that she filed on Tuesday after she lost her right to answer, is gobbledygook, it's nonsense," he continued. "And it says all sorts of things that are simply not true."
"But what does a default mean?" Resnik asked.
"Excellent question," Ryan said. "When a party defaults, like when a plaintiff sues a defendant, defendant fails to answer, they default. That means they don't get to file an answer. They don't get to contest the issues. And in fact, the court was very clear about it in this particular case."
"[The judge] put in a footnote, it is worth noting, pursuant to well-established Arizona law, a defaulted party loses all rights to try the merits of the cause of action in an incited relevant Arizona law.,"
"She's done," Ryan added.
"Is it a concession that she defamed Stephen Richer?" Resnik asked.
"Absolutely," Ryan said. "It's a confession that she defamed Stephen Richer. She said the things that she said. She did it with intent, and she did it, most importantly, with malice."
Lake will not get discovery.
"She will not get discovery, she will not get disclosure, all the kinds of tools lawyers have to go and figure out what's going on in the other side's case," Ryan said. "She's lost."
"So now, the only thing that happens is Richer's team gets to determine damages," Ryan explained. "And that means they're the ones with the discovery. So for example, they've got to find out, who did you send these to? Who did your team send these to? They want to know how far you disseminated this. So they're the ones that get discovery. She does not."
"What about punitive damages?" Resnik asked.
"They're on the table, too, because she's admitted her malice," Ryan said. "And malice is, and it's clear and convincing is the standard. The standard has already been met because she said, yeah, I did it. And she's still saying that she's doing it."
"She's got the IQ of an empty beer can if she's going out there and continuing to say these things in the public after she's admitted, I did all these things, I did them with intent and I did them with malice," he added.
He's not wrong, and it's nice to know that karma is knocking at her door.
