(Photograph by Drew Angerer/Getty Photographs)
Rudy Giuliani’s bada-bing lawyer Joe Cammarata continues to do wonderful work. The divorce lawyer to the celebs (of Staten Island) is representing America’s decrepit Mayor within the New York section of the findout being delivered by Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the Atlanta ballot employees he defamed.
On Thursday, he’s scheduled to go to trial earlier than Choose Lewis Liman on the problem of the Florida homestead exception, which might permit him to shelter his $3 million Palm Seashore rental from being bought to fulfill the $148 million judgment. There’s additionally a secondary problem of whether or not he actually gave his World Collection rings to his son Andrew, so maybe the previous gubernatorial candidate will present some levity on the trial when his father takes the stand.
Over the summer time, Rudy informed a chapter court docket that he lived in New York, however earlier than he fell ass backward out of Chapter 11 — restarting the clock on collections — he registered himself as a Florida resident. And in December, in direct contravention of Choose Liman’s order that he not encumber the property, he registered the rental as his homestead with the county clerk, that means that it’ll require litigation in state court docket to clear the title.
Final night time Choose Liman ordered sanctions for Rudy’s complete refusal to adjust to discovery. After failing to show over greater than a handful of paperwork, and a month after the deadline to reveal his witnesses, “Defendant added 5 new individuals as people more likely to have discoverable info he would possibly use to help his protection on this motion.” All 5 had been his personal staff, and he later added a sixth, Monsignor Alan Placa, who went to work for Rudy in 2002 after being barred from the ministry for… the standard. Two of the witnesses did not testify, and two of the three who confirmed as much as be deposed agreed that they’d, certainly, obtained the subpoenas asking for responsive paperwork, however merely did not search for or produce them.
The one witness who even claimed to have complied was Rudy’s [cough] podcast co-host Maria Ryan, who turned over precisely one electronic mail, and insisted that it was her behavior to instantly delete all correspondence pertaining to “the Mayor,” and that his calendar was maintained through a system of “sticky notes” that had been additionally — if you happen to may even imagine it — instantly discarded.
Choose Liman was mad impressed. He excluded each witness however Ryan and Rudy himself, rejecting Cammarata’s suggestion that the correct treatment was to carry stated witnesses in contempt and search to implement compliance.
“As Defendant nicely is aware of, it’s his personal discovery violations which have prevented that possibility from changing into viable,” the choose scoffed. “There isn’t any time for the Courtroom to provoke contempt proceedings towards [Rudy’s body man Ted] Goodman earlier than the scheduled trial.”
And, noting that “Defendant doesn’t handle Plaintiffs’ argument that he must be precluded from counting on paperwork that he didn’t produce in discovery,” he granted that movement as nicely.
Realizing that his consumer was successfully precluded from defending himself by introducing proof he failed to supply throughout discovery, Cammarata leapt into motion… kind of.
At 10pm, he filed a “Discover of Interlocutory Enchantment” apprising the Second Circuit that:
The Courtroom, Choose Lewis J. Liman excluded two witnesses from having the ability to testify at trial on January 16, 2025, to wit: MONSIGNOR ALAN PLACA, and THEODORE GOODMAN who mustn’t have been excluded from testifying. The Order said no authorized professional foundation for excluding MONSIGNOR ALAN PLACA or THEODORE GOODMAN from testifying. The Order prejudices the Defendant, is improper and a wrongful prejudicial choice of the Courtroom. The Courtroom improperly dominated that granting a continuance of the trial could be not practicable with none lawful foundation for such choice. The Courtroom granted way more prolonged discovery schedules to different instances, however this case, towards Rudolph W. Giuliani who challenged the 2020 election is being handled in a different way to trigger prejudice to the Defendant. When Defendant requested a continuance to have the trial after the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump because the forty seventh President of the US, the Courtroom denied that, though the court docket set a really agressive [sic] schedule from Preliminary Convention to trial. The Courtroom’s prejudicial actions is to disclaim Defendant a good trial whereas there is no such thing as a prejudice to Plaintiffs.
To date, the Second Circuit has failed to reply. Maybe it’s because, in contrast to in New York state court docket, you may’t take a direct interlocutory attraction of a pretrial ruling in federal court docket.
The enjoyable continued this morning at a pre-trial convention, the place Choose Liman denied Cammarata’s movement for reconsideration.
As documented by reporter Matthew Lee, Cammarata demanded that the court docket admit Placa’s testimony as a result of the retired cleric “solutions to the next authority.”
However all is just not misplaced. After a conveniently timed social media publish from his favourite professional bono consumer, the Rudy Giuliani Freedom Fund raised $167,000. The GiveSendGo guarantees that “ALL FUNDS GO TO LEGAL DEFENSE.” Which is sweet information for Cammarata, since Rudy’s prior attorneys are suing him for unpaid payments.
And Lemon, it’s solely Wednesday. OH, SHIT, DO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME IT’S TUESDAY? Properly, time flies once you’re getting held in contempt of two separate courts inside ten days.
Freeman v. Giuliani [New York Docket via Court Listener]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore the place she produces the Legislation and Chaos substack and podcast.
