Press "Enter" to skip to content

Court Swami: Judge to Toss Lederman-Arends Robocall Civil Suit Monday

Senator Dan Lederman's civil suit against Daniel Willard and still undiscovered, unproven anonymous robocallers gets a hearing tomorrow afternoon in Minnehaha County. The Lederman PAC will drive over to the courthouse from its office in a mailbox on Westport Avenue to tell a judge not to dismiss their case.

The judge, if she or he is a good South Dakota non-activist judicial minimalist, will dismiss. The plaintiffs, Lederman and his PAC, appear not to have standing, as neither appears to have been directly harmed by the named and unnamed defendants' actions. The plaintiffs seek no specific damages for the robocalls, e-mails, and postcards sent last summer. Lederman is simply asking the court to waste its time by declaring those anonymous election communications violated campaign finance law. The lawsuit gives the judge no practical remedy beyond declaring someone broke the law and making those someones pay Lederman's legal expenses for bringing an unnecessary lawsuit.

Help me out, solicitous readers: what business does a judge in a civil case have declaring that a criminal statute has been violated? If we have evidence that a law has been broken, don't we call the state's attorney or the attorney general and press charges, as is happening to Dan Willard as Attorney General Marty Jackley drags him through the legal wringer in circuit court in Lake County?

Lederman's lawsuit seems to serve no purpose other than to generate politically charged press releases that can't come from the AG's supposedly confidential grand jury inquiries in the criminal case against Willard. The Second Circuit should decline to be co-opted by this political move and let the Third Circuit properly address these criminal questions.

5 Comments

  1. larry kurtz 2013.04.28

    Good eye, Cory: Lederman is a pro at drawing attention from red state collapse that his party has orchestrated.

  2. Roger Elgersma 2013.04.28

    I like if both the courts find the truth and the public find the truth. If the court can not tell the public then we should know some other way. My experience is that the courts are not always right anyways.
    So if they can not find out who did it, is homeland securities computers not as good as I thought they were or are they bought off.

  3. MC 2013.04.28

    I have trying to follow this fiasco since Pat broke the story at the SDWC.

    Why is this even in civil court? I hope the judge tosses the lawsuit and the lawyer who file it out on their ear. (note to self: Avoid Court house tomorrow afternoon if possible)

  4. Dave 2013.04.28

    Something smells. Lederman is a skunk.

  5. larry kurtz 2013.04.28

    and pp would scream frivolous lawsuit if someone served him or a crony with a summons.

Comments are closed.