US supreme court rejects MyPillow chief’s bid to dodge $1.3bn lawsuit

The defamation lawsuit that voting machine company Dominion is pursuing against the MyPillow chief executive, Mike Lindell, can proceed after the US supreme court rejected the prominent Donald Trump supporter's appeal aiming to block the case.

Dominion Voting Systems in February 2021 filed a $1.3bn lawsuit accusing Lindell of promoting the debunked conspiracy theory that the company's machines manipulated vote counts in favor of Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election that ousted Trump from the Oval Office.

Lindell had been appealing an August 2021 ruling by federal court judge Carl Nichols, who refused to dismiss the lawsuit at the MyPillow leader's request. An appellate court in Washington DC later decided the case was not ready for review. And in its first day back from its summer break, the US supreme court decided it would not take up Lindell's appeal for consideration, clearing the way for the lawsuit against Lindell to progress.

Nichols wrote in the ruling that Dominion "has adequately alleged that Lindell made his claims knowing that they were false or with reckless disregard for the truth" and therefore had grounds to file a defamation lawsuit.

Dominion also alleges that Lindell participated in a defamatory marketing campaign against the company in efforts to sell more pillows by telling audiences to purchase MyPillow products after making his claims of election fraud and providing promotional codes related to those theories.

Dominion and Smartmatic, which has also sued Lindell, have demanded damages from several Trump allies and rightwing news networks that spread conspiracy theories about the companies' vote tallying machines being compromised to Biden's benefit.

In September, Lindell said that FBI investigators seized his cellphone in connection with an alleged election security breach in Colorado.

Lindell said he was in the drive-through lane of a Hardee's fast-food restaurant when agents surrounded him and took his phone.