From Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis's decision in Griffin v. MyPillow, Inc. (S.D. Fla.), posted today:
This action arises from an out-of-district subpoena directed to the Supervisor of Elections for Monroe County, Florida, issued in connection with US Dominion, Inc. et al. v. My Pillow, Inc. et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-00445-CJN (D.D.C.) … (the "District of Columbia Case").
The District of Columbia Case is an action for defamation brought by plaintiffs US Dominion and its subsidiaries … against defendants My Pillow and its CEO, Michael Lindell, who are Respondents in the instant proceeding. Plaintiffs, who are manufacturers of vote tabulation systems used in elections throughout the country, set out in their complaint that My Pillow and Lindell promoted then-President Donald J. Trump's election-related claims (that the 2020 U.S. presidential election had been stolen from him) to boost their My Pillow product sales among audiences watching certain news outlets, knowing these claims to be false….
Plaintiffs assert that these claims have been resoundingly discredited and rejected in numerous courts, by various agencies of the Federal government, by election officials in numerous states, and by election specialists…. In their complaint, Plaintiffs assert that, on February 4, 2021, they again put the defendants on notice of the falsity of their statements, pointing the defendants to the alleged flaws in the report and data that the defendants had used to support their election-related claims. In response, the defendants asserted, in television interviews, that they were being targeted by Plaintiffs.
The next day, and after having been put on notice by Plaintiffs regarding the alleged falsities of his statements, Lindell broadcasted a purportedly sham documentary-style movie, which is described in greater detail in the complaint. Plaintiffs contend that, apart from promoting My Pillow's products in that movie, Lindell knowingly lied that the discredited report and allegedly manufactured data obtained from conspiracy theorists both were proof that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen, due to algorithms hacked into Plaintiffs' vote tabulation machines….
On September 7, 2022, Respondents served the Subpoena on the Supervisor, commanding production of 22 different categories of information related to the voting system used by Monroe County, Florida during the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The requested information includes forensic copies of all computer drives affiliated or attached to the Supervisor's vote tabulation system, forensic copies of certain files generated by the vote tabulation systems, diagrams of the Supervisor's computer networks running the election system, MAC addresses for election equipment, network logs, credentials for encryption services used by the election system, lists of personnel who had access to the election system before and shortly after the November 2020 presidential election, vote tabulation documents generated during the November 2020 election, documents produced in relation to the November 2020 election, documents related to intrusion attempts on the election system, contracts and agreements with the supplier of the election system, and contracts and agreements related to network security and cybersecurity….
