Smartmatic voting systems in court filings Monday accused former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, of using “dog ate my homework”-type excuses top avoid turning over documents in a defamation case, CNN reports.
Smartmatic is suing Fox News and Giuliani, among others, in a $2.7 billion defamation suit over false claims about the 2020 election.
Smartmatic in its filing claimed that Giuliani “half-heartedly” performed searches for documents he was required to turn over, leading to deficient results.
“‘The dog ate my homework.’ ‘I have to wash my hair.’ ‘I can’t go out, I’m sick.’ Since the dawn of time, people have made up excuses to avoid doing things they do not want to do. This is exactly what Giuliani has done here,” Smartmatic’s filing said
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“For months, Giuliani has made up excuses to get out of his discovery obligations. …To date, Giuliani has not produced a single non-public document responsive to the discovery requests Smartmatic issued 14 months ago.”
CNN”s Marshall Cohen writes that, to resolve the matter, Smartmatic is asking a New York state judge to force Giuliani to turn over the materials and to submit a financial declaration backing up his claims that he can’t afford an outside vendor to handle the mammoth discovery request. Smartmatic also wants Giuliani to face sanctions and pay some of the company’s legal fees.
