Sidney Powell went to extraordinary lengths to avoid being served with a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, the company claims.
In a filing on Tuesday, Dominion alleged Powell “evaded” being served with a lawsuit for weeks, thereby “forcing Dominion to incur unnecessary expenses for extraordinary measures to effect service, including hiring private investigators and pursuing Powell across state lines.”
Howard Kleinhendler, Powell’s attorney, acknowledged to the Washington Examiner that Powell has been traveling for work but that her trips were not an attempt to avoid being served.
“Ms. Powell did not evade service. She regularly travels as part of her work. Unfortunately, for the past several months Ms. Powell has had to take extra precautions concerning her security, which may have made serving her more difficult,” he said, adding, “Ms. Powell had no reason to evade service as she looks forward to defending herself in court.”
Powell, whom Dominion charged with causing “unprecedented harm” to the company for pushing claims that it engaged in election fraud, and her defense team had asked for an extension until March 22 to respond to the original complaint in a filing with the United States District of Columbia District Court one day prior. Her request was granted.
In the weeks after the 2020 presidential election, which was won by President Biden, Powell and others began promoting charges of voter fraud against several voting software companies, including Dominion. Dubbed “the Kraken,” Powell filed several lawsuits against the companies in question, alleging that the voting machines used were compromised and that there is a broader, illegal vote-changing scheme in U.S. politics. She also claimed that foreign adversaries, including China and Iran, were involved.
Dominion, which, before suing, warned Powell and others about potential litigation and demanded a retraction in December, seeks to collect $1.3 billion in damages.
“Powell’s wild accusations are demonstrably false. … The viral disinformation campaign has irreparably damaged Dominion’s reputation,” read the filing. “Dominion brings this action to set the record straight, to vindicate the company’s rights under civil law, to recover compensatory and punitive damages, to seek a narrowly tailored injunction, and to stand up for itself and its employees.”
The company has also accused several other Trump defenders of defamation in connection to the pervasive claims of election fraud. Dominion filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani seeking $1.3 billion in damages and issued similar threats to more than 150 others who the company alleges are guilty of slander.
