Trump and his lawyer Alina Haba have been jointly sanctioned in a Federal court for bringing frivolous cases:
A Florida judge sanctioned former President Donald Trump and one of his attorneys, ordering them to pay nearly $1 million for filing what he said was a bogus lawsuit against Trump’s 2016 rival Hillary Clinton and others.
In a blistering filing on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks accused Trump of a “pattern of abuse of the courts” for filing frivolous lawsuits for political purposes, which he said “undermines the rule of law” and “amounts to obstruction of justice.”
“Here, we are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose,” he wrote.
Citing Trump’s recent legal action against the Pulitzer Prize board, New York’s attorney general, big tech companies and CNN, he described Trump as “a prolific and sophisticated litigant” who uses the courts “to seek revenge on political adversaries.”
“He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process,” he wrote.
The ruling required Trump and his attorney, Alina Habba, to pay nearly $938,000 to the defendants in the case. (npr)
Judge Middlebrooks ruled that trump knowingly used the courts as a vehicle for revenge:
“Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries,” Middlebrooks wrote. “He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions.”
Calling the complaint a “shotgun pleading,” Middlebrooks said that Trump and his legal team deployed “abusive litigation tactics” that were “drafted to advance a political narrative[,] not to address legal harm caused by any Defendant.” (Law and Crime)
Has Judge Middlebrooks made a valid point about Trump and Haba’s legal strategy? How do you feel about this development in the Federal court?
submitted by /u/salimfadhley
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