{"id":2207032,"date":"2024-03-26T21:59:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T01:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kari-lake-wont-defend-herself-in-arizona-defamation-lawsuit-and-asks-court-to-decide-damages\/"},"modified":"2024-03-26T22:02:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T02:02:27","slug":"kari-lake-wont-defend-herself-in-arizona-defamation-lawsuit-and-asks-court-to-decide-damages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kari-lake-wont-defend-herself-in-arizona-defamation-lawsuit-and-asks-court-to-decide-damages\/","title":{"rendered":"Kari Lake opts not to defend herself in Arizona defamation lawsuit, requests court to determine damages"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkari-lake-wont-defend-herself-in-arizona-defamation-lawsuit-and-asks-court-to-decide-damages%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2207032&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Arizona Senate hopeful \u2063Kari Lake\u200d has chosen not to \u2062defend herself in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kari-lake-says-shell-make-decision-on-arizona-senate-run-by-end-of-2023\/\" title=\"Kari Lake to decide on Arizona Senate run by late 2023.\">defamation \u2063lawsuit filed<\/a> by Maricopa County Recorder\u200b Stephen Richer. She has opted\u200c for a default\u200d judgment hearing to determine damages. Richer accused Lake of \u2063making defamatory statements related to\u200d the 2022 election, which\u2062 he claimed led to \u200cthreats against him and \u200dhis family. This move was\u2064 seen \u2063by Richer \u2063as an admission of defeat.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Republican Arizona Senate hopeful <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kari-lake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Kari Lake\">Kari Lake<\/a> forfeited her ability to defend herself in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/defamation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"defamation\">defamation<\/a> lawsuit, instead asking the court to decide damages.<\/p>\n<p>Lake, who lost her 2022 bid for governor to now-Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ), justified her decision by saying she was a victim of lawfare, or the use of the legal system to impoverish a political opponent. She requested that the judge set a default judgment hearing, forfeiting her right to defend herself, and instead go straight to determining whether or not damages are owed to the plaintiff and how much.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit was brought forward by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who accused Lake of making defamatory statements surrounding the 2022 gubernatorial election. Richer, who is also a Republican and filed the lawsuit from a personal capacity, claimed Lake and her gubernatorial campaign team falsely accused him of causing the loss, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2024\/03\/26\/kari-lake-defamation-lawsuit-damages\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>resulting in threats<\/a> against him and his family.<\/p>\n<p>He was quick to take Lake\u2019s move on Tuesday as an admission of defeat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cComplete and total surrender by @KariLake,\u201d he wrote in a post on X. \u201cKari: You lied. You just accepted liability. You will now have a judgment entered, in court, against you, for lying about our elections and me. It was all B.S. Now on to damages.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div>\n<blockquote data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Complete and total surrender by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KariLake?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KariLake<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Kari: You lied. You just accepted liability. <\/p>\n<p>You will now have a judgment entered, in court, against you, for lying about our elections and me. It was all B.S. <\/p>\n<p>Now on to damages. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rzj5YfWjZK\">https:\/\/t.co\/rzj5YfWjZK<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Stephen Richer\u2014MaricopaCountyRecorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stephen_richer\/status\/1772721002650239037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Lake saw things a different way, viewing her move as a tactical retreat in order to avoid getting sucked into what she called a \u201cpolitical witch hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy participating in this lawsuit, it would only serve to legitimize this perversion of our legal system and allow bad actors to interfere in our upcoming election,\u201d she said in a video statement. \u201cSo I won\u2019t be taking part. Instead, I will focus, and continue to focus, on the issues that matter to the people of Arizona \u2014 securing the border, bringing back our economy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-blames-inflation-on-war-in-iraq-and-incorrectly-says-thats-where-my-son-died-2\/\" title=\"Biden Blames Inflation on \"War in Iraq,\" and Incorrectly Says \"That\u2019s Where My Son Died\"\">improving health care<\/a> and education. Arizona is worth fighting for, and that\u2019s exactly what I will continue to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div>\n<blockquote data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>The political elite will do anything to hold onto power and STOP outsiders like me\u2013 they\u2019ve resorted to filing a ludicrous defamation lawsuit to try to stop me and bleed me dry. <\/p>\n<p>Taking part in this lawfare just legitimizes it<\/p>\n<p>Instead, I will continue to focus on the issues\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uE7udsWyKx\">pic.twitter.com\/uE7udsWyKx<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014 Kari Lake (@KariLake) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KariLake\/status\/1772720521781940732?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The surprise move is \u201cvery rare,\u201d according to one of Richer\u2019s lawyers, Ben Berwick.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is extraordinary to see a defendant in civil litigation concede like this,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/news\/politics\/arizona\/2024\/03\/26\/kari-lake-requests-default-judgement-in-ongoing-defamation-lawsuit\/73108712007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>he told the<\/a> <em>Arizona Republic<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake chose not to defend herself in a defamation lawsuit and seeks the court&#8217;s ruling on damages. Lake, who previously lost the 2022 gubernatorial race to Governor Katie Hobbs, cited being a victim of lawfare for her decision<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2207033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24055615968190-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2207032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24055615968190-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2207032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2207033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2207032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2207032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2207032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}