Latest news with #8thCircuitCourtofAppeals
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Court rules MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell does not have to pay out $5 million over ‘Prove Mike Wrong' stunt
MyPillow founder Mike Lindell does not have to pay $5 million to a software developer who tried to disprove his 2020 election interference claims, a federal appeals court ruled. Lindell, widely known as 'MyPillow Guy,' claimed that China interfered with the 2020 election results and he had evidence to back it up. He then launched a 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge,' a stunt in which contestants tried to debunk his evidence, offering $5 million to anyone who could do it. The judges in Lindell's stunt didn't believe Robert Zeidman, a software developer who participated, proved his case against Lindell's claim, but an arbitration panel found that he won the challenge and ordered Lindell to pay him his winnings. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the panel's decision, finding 'the arbitrators exceeded their powers.' 'It's a great day for our country,' Lindell told the Associated Press. 'This is a big win. It opens the door to getting rid of these electronic voting machines and getting paper ballots, hand-counted.' Lindell hosted a 'Cyber Symposium' in South Dakota in August 2021, when he showed data that he claimed to prove election interference. He then dared skeptics to participate in the 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge,' offering the $5 million award. Zeidman, who had been invited to the symposium, entered the challenge and submitted a 15-page report against his claims. The judge's disagreed and said he did not prove Lindell wrong. The arbitration panel disagreed, finding that the software developer had met that requirement and won the challenge by pointing out that Lindell's so-called evidence didn't contain voting machines' data. Lindell then filed a legal challenge to the judement. The appeals court found that the panel 'effectively amended' the challenge's rules, handing Lindell a victory. 'From the four corners of the Challenge contract as defined by the Official Rules, there is no way to read 'information related to the November 2020 election' as meaning only information that is packet capture data,' the appeals court found. Zeidman, who previously told the New York Times that he is a Republican and voted for Donald Trump twice, believed Lindell's claims posed a danger to democracy. 'A false narrative about election fraud is just really damaging to this country,' he told the Times. Last month, a federal jury in Colorado found that Lindell defamed Eric Coomer, the former security and product strategy director at Dominion Voting Systems, when he accused him of treason. Lindell was ordered to pay Coomer $2.3 million in damages — a ruling that the MyPillow CEO said he plans to appeal.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Court rules MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell does not have to pay out $5 million over ‘Prove Mike Wrong' stunt
MyPillow founder Mike Lindell does not have to pay $5 million to a software developer who tried to disprove his 2020 election interference claims, a federal appeals court ruled. Lindell, widely known as 'MyPillow Guy,' claimed that China interfered with the 2020 election results and he had evidence to back it up. He then launched a 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge,' a stunt in which contestants tried to debunk his evidence, offering $5 million to anyone who could do it. The judges in Lindell's stunt didn't believe Robert Zeidman, a software developer who participated, proved his case against Lindell's claim, but an arbitration panel found that he won the challenge and ordered Lindell to pay him his winnings. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the panel's decision, finding 'the arbitrators exceeded their powers.' 'It's a great day for our country,' Lindell told the Associated Press. 'This is a big win. It opens the door to getting rid of these electronic voting machines and getting paper ballots, hand-counted.' Lindell hosted a 'Cyber Symposium' in South Dakota in August 2021, when he showed data that he claimed to prove election interference. He then dared skeptics to participate in the 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge,' offering the $5 million award. Zeidman, who had been invited to the symposium, entered the challenge and submitted a 15-page report against his claims. The judge's disagreed and said he did not prove Lindell wrong. The arbitration panel disagreed, finding that the software developer had met that requirement and won the challenge by pointing out that Lindell's so-called evidence didn't contain voting machines' data. Lindell then filed a legal challenge to the judement. The appeals court found that the panel 'effectively amended' the challenge's rules, handing Lindell a victory. 'From the four corners of the Challenge contract as defined by the Official Rules, there is no way to read 'information related to the November 2020 election' as meaning only information that is packet capture data,' the appeals court found. Zeidman, who previously told the New York Times that he is a Republican and voted for Donald Trump twice, believed Lindell's claims posed a danger to democracy. 'A false narrative about election fraud is just really damaging to this country,' he told the Times. Last month, a federal jury in Colorado found that Lindell defamed Eric Coomer, the former security and product strategy director at Dominion Voting Systems, when he accused him of treason. Lindell was ordered to pay Coomer $2.3 million in damages — a ruling that the MyPillow CEO said he plans to appeal.
San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Mike Lindell celebrates victory after appeals court voids $5M award in election data dispute
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal appeals court handed a victory Wednesday to Mike Lindell, ruling that the MyPillow founder doesn't have to pay a $5 million award to a software engineer who disputed data that Lindell claims proves that China interfered in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an arbitration panel overstepped its authority in 2023 when it awarded $5 million to the engineer, Robert Zeidman, of Las Vegas, who took Lindell up on his 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge.' 'It's a great day for our country,' a jubilant Lindell said in an interview. 'This is a big win. It opens the door to getting rid of these electronic voting machines and getting paper ballots, hand-counted.' Lindell, one of the country's most prominent propagators of false claims that the 2020 election was a fraud, lost in a different case in Colorado last month. A jury ruled that Lindell defamed a former employee of a voting equipment company by accusing him of treason, and awarded $2.3 million in damages. Lindell said he is appealing, and that he actually considers the verdict a victory because MyPillow itself wasn't found liable. President Donald Trump and his allies lost more than 50 court cases trying to overturn the 2020 election results, and his own attorney general at the time said there was no indication of wide-scale fraud. As part of a 'Cyber Symposium' Lindell hosted in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 2021, Lindell offered $5 million for anyone who could prove that 'packet captures' and other data he released there were not valid data from the 2020 election. Zeidman entered a 15-page report that he said proved the data wasn't what Lindell claimed. Contest judges declined to declare Zeidman a winner, so he filed for arbitration under the contest rules. A panel of three arbitrators, including one named by Lindell, concluded that Zeidman had satisfied the rules and awarded him $5 million. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim affirmed the award last year. He expressed concern about how the arbitrators interpreted what he called a 'poorly written contract,' but he said courts have only limited authority to overrule arbitration awards and ordered Lindell to pay up. But the appeals court ruled Wednesday that the arbitrators went beyond the contractual language of the official contest rules in deciding how to construe them, instead of sticking to the document itself. The appeals court said the rules were unambiguous, even if they might have favored Lindell. 'Whatever one might think of the logic of the panel's reasoning, it is contrary to Minnesota law. ... Fair or not, agreed-to contract terms may not be modified by the panel or by this court,' the appeals court wrote, and sent the case back to the lower court with instructions to vacate the $5 million award. Zeidman attorney Brian Glasser urged people to read the arbitrators' decision and "judge for themselves if the Eight Circuit's decision today is more persuasive, or rings in truth louder, than the unanimous contrary decision of three arbitrators who heard all the evidence, including one appointed by Mr. Lindell.'
Toronto Star
4 days ago
- Business
- Toronto Star
Mike Lindell celebrates victory after appeals court voids $5M award in election data dispute
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal appeals court handed a victory Wednesday to Mike Lindell, ruling that the MyPillow founder doesn't have to pay a $5 million award to a software engineer who disputed data that Lindell claims proves that China interfered in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an arbitration panel overstepped its authority in 2023 when it awarded $5 million to the engineer, Robert Zeidman, of Las Vegas, who took Lindell up on his 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge.'
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Mike Lindell celebrates victory after appeals court voids $5M award in election data dispute
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal appeals court handed a victory Wednesday to Mike Lindell, ruling that the MyPillow founder doesn't have to pay a $5 million award to a software engineer who disputed data that Lindell claims proves that China interfered in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an arbitration panel overstepped its authority in 2023 when it awarded $5 million to the engineer, Robert Zeidman, of Las Vegas, who took Lindell up on his 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge.' 'It's a great day for our country,' a jubilant Lindell said in an interview. 'This is a big win. It opens the door to getting rid of these electronic voting machines and getting paper ballots, hand-counted.' Lindell, one of the country's most prominent propagators of false claims that the 2020 election was a fraud, lost in a different case in Colorado last month. A jury ruled that Lindell defamed a former employee of a voting equipment company by accusing him of treason, and awarded $2.3 million in damages. Lindell said he is appealing, and that he actually considers the verdict a victory because MyPillow itself wasn't found liable. President Donald Trump and his allies lost more than 50 court cases trying to overturn the 2020 election results, and his own attorney general at the time said there was no indication of wide-scale fraud. As part of a 'Cyber Symposium' Lindell hosted in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 2021, Lindell offered $5 million for anyone who could prove that 'packet captures' and other data he released there were not valid data from the 2020 election. Zeidman entered a 15-page report that he said proved the data wasn't what Lindell claimed. Contest judges declined to declare Zeidman a winner, so he filed for arbitration under the contest rules. A panel of three arbitrators, including one named by Lindell, concluded that Zeidman had satisfied the rules and awarded him $5 million. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim affirmed the award last year. He expressed concern about how the arbitrators interpreted what he called a 'poorly written contract,' but he said courts have only limited authority to overrule arbitration awards and ordered Lindell to pay up. But the appeals court ruled Wednesday that the arbitrators went beyond the contractual language of the official contest rules in deciding how to construe them, instead of sticking to the document itself. The appeals court said the rules were unambiguous, even if they might have favored Lindell. 'Whatever one might think of the logic of the panel's reasoning, it is contrary to Minnesota law. … Fair or not, agreed-to contract terms may not be modified by the panel or by this court,' the appeals court wrote, and sent the case back to the lower court with instructions to vacate the $5 million award. Zeidman attorney Brian Glasser urged people to read the arbitrators' decision and 'judge for themselves if the Eight Circuit's decision today is more persuasive, or rings in truth louder, than the unanimous contrary decision of three arbitrators who heard all the evidence, including one appointed by Mr. Lindell.'
