MyPillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell must appear in court to face a defamation lawsuit brought by voting machine company Smartmatic, according to a ruling by a Minneapolis judge.
Lindell filed a motion to dismiss the two claims against him, but U.S. District Court Judge Wilhemina Wright said that Smartmatic provided sufficient evidence to support both the defamation claim and their claim that Lindell “acted with actual malice” in promoting statements he knew were false.
Lindell is known for furthering former President Donald Trump‘s claims that the election was “stolen” from him and “rigged” to boost PresidentJoe Biden to victory. The MyPillow CEO alleged that there was an issue with voting machine fraud by Smartmatic, Dominion and ES&S machines.
Smartmatic argued that their company has been defamed by Lindell’s remarks, but Lindell moved to dismiss the lawsuit saying that his comments were made from a personal standpoint rather than as the head of MyPillow and that his comments should be protected under the First Amendment.
The voting machine company, however, responded that Lindell advertised promo codes for his company’s products while furthering a narrative of election fraud, which means he used wrongful trade practices.
Wright ruled that both Lindell and MyPillow should be held responsible for defamation as Lindell promoted MyPillow products and election fraud conspiracies at the same time.
