Legal Fee Tracker: Giuliani's bill for Trump work could go to Georgia poll workers
By David Thomas
Sept 5 (Reuters) -It's been nearly four years since Rudy Giuliani became the public face of Donald Trump's failed legal efforts to reverse his 2020 presidential election defeat.
Now, in the latest twist stemming from Giuliani's career-ending work for the former Republican president, his $2 million outstanding legal bill to the Trump campaign could be collected by two Georgia poll workers falsely accused of election fraud.
Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea' "Shaye" Moss on Friday said they are entitled to Giuliani's claim to his unpaid Trump fees, as part of their larger effort to collect on a $148 million defamation judgment imposed on Giuliani in December.
Giuliani told a bankruptcy court earlier this year that he is still owed about $2 million after the Trump campaign hired him to spearhead its election efforts following Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 victory. He said the fees were due to be paid by the 2020 campaign and the Republican National Committee.
Freeman and Moss are seeking an order that would allow them to take possession of the legal fee claim and other Giuliani assets, including three World Series rings, multiple watches, and apartments in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida.
"Now that plaintiffs are finally in a position to collect their judgment, the court should not hesitate to employ the enforcement devices available under New York law," Freeman and Moss said in their lawsuit.
Attorneys for Freeman and Moss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman on Friday called Freeman and Moss' $148 million verdict "objectively unreasonable" and slammed their new lawsuit. Goodman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the $2 million fee claim.
Freeman and Moss' lawsuit comes two months after a judge ended Giuliani's bankruptcy, leaving him vulnerable to creditors.
Freeman and Moss were election workers in heavily Democratic Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, where a strong showing by Biden helped give him a narrow Georgia victory.
Trump and his surrogates used surveillance video of the vote count at State Farm Arena to falsely accuse Freeman and Moss of processing "suitcases" full of fake ballots for Biden late at night on Election Day, after most poll workers and election observers left.
Freeman and Moss told Reuters in December 2021 that the accusations had derailed their lives.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., in August 2023 held Giuliani liable for defaming Freeman and Moss as a sanction for failing to turn over electronic records during the litigation, paving the way for the $148 million judgment.
Giuliani was disbarred in New York in July after a state court found the former New York City mayor and U.S. attorney had lied in arguing the election was stolen from Trump.
- In other legal news, a Delaware judge who will decide how much to award lawyers who successfully voided Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package received some unsolicited guidance last month from the state's top court: No windfalls.
- A company that defeated a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit claiming it duped consumers into buying print subscriptions has asked a U.S. judge to award $5.4 million in legal fees for the agency's “dramatic overreach.”
Attorneys for American Future Systems in a court filing on Tuesday said the FTC should be forced to cover legal fees after losing its case following a 15-day trial last year.
- A Washington state appeals court last week ruled that a public school district cannot force its insurer to pay a $1.77 million settlement it struck with a Christian high school football coach whose lawsuit over on-field prayers went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court in 2022 sided with Joseph Kennedy against Bremerton School District, finding that the district violated Kennedy's rights after he was suspended for refusing to stop leading prayers with players on the field after games.
- A Paul Hastings lawyer overseeing the bankruptcy estate of an exiled Chinese businessman convicted of fraud in July has sued U.S. law firm Boies Schiller Flexner in an attempt to recoup money that was allegedly fraudulently transferred to the firm.
Boies Schiller received more than $653,000 in legal fees from a shell company belonging to Guo Wengui, trustee Luc Despins alleged in a lawsuit filed Friday in Connecticut bankruptcy court. The shell company was allegedly used by Guo to dodge his creditors, Despins said.
Boies Schiller had earlier represented Guo, who has several aliases including Ho Wan Kwok, in various legal proceedings and won an arbitration award over its fees.
(Legal Fee Tracker is a weekly feature exploring attorney compensation awards and disputes in class actions, bankruptcies and other matters. Please send tips or suggestions to D.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com.)
Read more:
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Legal Fee Tracker: Lawyers play the long game in $2.7 billion NCAA settlement
Legal Fee Tracker: JetBlue, Spirit say lawyers don't deserve credit for scrapped merger
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