Left: Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, attends a Medal of Honor Ceremony in the East Room at the White House in Washington on July 3, 2024 (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Sipa USA/ AP Images). Right: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Washington, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023 (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana).
Hunter Biden's lawyers finally filed a motion to enter a default judgment in their defamation lawsuit against ex-Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, seeking $1 in nominal damages and $33.3 million in punitive damages — based on the "most comparable" fate of Rudy Giuliani for defaming 2020 election workers in Georgia.
The punitive damages sought are the result of Byrne's no-show at his trial in late July and simultaneous firing of his lawyers "on a whim," only to replace those attorneys with counsel that U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson, a Ronald Reagan appointee, would not grant permission to enter the case.
Wilson initially pushed back a trial date by several months rather than immediately entering a default for "misconduct," instead granting limited discovery into Byrne's net worth.
By October, however, as that discovery went nowhere, Biden's lawyers asked Wilson to enter the default and the court responded accordingly, opening the door for the son of ex-President Joe Biden to seek damages without putting Byrne's claims on trial.
Patrick Byrne, former CEO of The America Project and former Overstock.com CEO, left, and Joe Flynn, President, The America Project, attend a conference on conspiracy theories about voting machines and discredited claims about the 2020 presidential election at a hotel in West Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. The event featured Republicans running for statewide offices that oversee elections in some of the most important battleground states (AP Photo/Jim Rassol).
In pursuit of damages, Biden repeatedly cited Giuliani's $148 million default judgment for defaming Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, arguing that was the "most comparable verdict."
"Many factors suggest a higher award than in the Freeman case: Byrne accuses Plaintiff of conduct more reprehensible than stuffing ballot boxes, Byrne is a recidivist with a history of malicious defamation, and Byrne has far more wealth and ability to pay a judgment than Mr. Giuliani," the motion said. "However, because Plaintiff was not as vulnerable to physical threats as the plaintiffs in Freeman, he requests an award of only 44% of the punitive damages award in that case, mirroring what would be the reduction in compensatory damages in Freeman if damages for emotional harm from physical threats were removed."
"Because Byrne has refused to participate in Court-ordered discovery regarding his financial condition, he is estopped from objecting to any punitive damages award based on lack of evidence of his net worth," the filing added.
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Biden first filed the defamation lawsuit in late 2023, alleging that Byrne defamed him when making false accusations about committing "despicable and treasonous crimes" involving bribery and Iran. Biden said that Byrne subsequently linked him and his "purported crimes" to the "horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel."
These "lies" were "especially reprehensible" in multiple ways, considering Byrne accused Biden of committing a crime punishable by death, the filing said.
"Byrne falsely accused Plaintiff of conspiring with enemy nations and terrorists against his own country for personal profit—in other words, of committing treason while his father was the sitting President by agreeing to help America's enemies kill Americans for money," the motion continued. "This amounts to a false accusation of treason—among the worst crimes imaginable, on a level with child molestation."
In addition, Biden's lawyers said, Byrne is a "recidivist" who used his considerable financial resources and "trickery and deceit with intentional malice" to tar the plaintiff because he "did not like" Joe Biden.
Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, a former Georgia election worker, is comforted by her mother Ruby Freeman, right, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, June 21, 2022 (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File).
"The fact pattern of this case—a billionaire repeatedly and relentlessly publishes that the son of the then-President has conspired with America's enemies for a bribe of nearly one billion dollars—is admittedly unique. Plaintiff submits the most similar comparison case is Freeman v. Giuliani," the motion said.
The difference between Biden and the defamed Georgia election workers is that he is a public figure and had Secret Service protection when Byrne made his statements, meaning Freeman and Moss were "much more vulnerable."
As a result, Biden sought $33.3 million — 44% of the $75 million in punitive damages awarded in the Freeman case — plus $1 in nominal damages.
Forcing Byrne to pay up tens of millions of dollars in punitive damages will send a message that causes him "discomfort" while not by any means ruining him, the filing concluded, claiming that sum would be "much less" than the defendant said he paid to bankroll 2020 election challenges and supporting "families of participants" in Jan. 6.
"Even if the award does not affect his lifestyle, Plaintiff believes an award of that size will cause Byrne discomfort and so satisfy the purpose of punitive damages. But it will not 'destroy' or 'cripple' Byrne. An award of $33.33 million would be less than 5% of his most likely earnings from his recent investment of the proceeds from his Overstock.com sale," the motion said. "It would be much less than the $40 million that Byrne publicly stated he spent on financing challenges to the 2020 presidential election and paying for living expenses for the families of participants in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol who were being prosecuted for those criminal actions."
Read the motion here.