A federal judge in Florida sanctioned Trump and one of his attorneys, Alina Habba (photo, left), for a frivolous lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and others, Politico reported on Thursday, January 19, 2023 (read story here).
The order (read it here) by Judge Donald Middlebrooks, a Bill Clinton appointee, was unsparing in its criticism.
“This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim,” he wrote.
He continued, “We are confronted with a lawsuit … which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and … was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose,” adding that “Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries,” and called him “a mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process.”
His order makes Trump and Habba jointly and severally liable for defendants’ legal fees and costs amounting to $937,989.39. That means they can collect the entire amount from either of them. As Trump is notorious for not paying his bills, one wishes Ms. Habba luck. Maybe she should stick to doing media appearances and let someone more competent than her represent a client with Trump’s liabilities, as she’s clearly in over her head on both ends of this.
Related story: The very next day, Trump withdrew a lawsuit against the New York attorney general investigating his businesses for tax evasion — before the same judge. (Read that story here.)