The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Taken to Court for Refusing to Pay the Person who Proved Him Wrong
Even with the benefit of contest rules he wrote to favor his position, arbitrators ruled against Lindell, and he now faces a court action to make him pay up.
MyPillow CEO and noted 2020 election denier Mike Lindell offered to pay $5 million to anyone who could debunk his supposed evidence of Chinese government interference in the 2020 presidential election. A die-hard Trump supporter, Lindell apparently believes that the 2020 election was stolen, and that he has the evidence to prove it. There was a catch, however, as Lindell required that any such claims be submitted to an arbitrator, and the terms were written quite narrowly--but perhaps not narrowly enough.
Robert Zeidman, a computer forensics expert who had apparently voted for Trump twice, took Lindell up on his challenge. He analyzed the supposed evidence and demonstrated it was a steaming pile of digital detritus, and not evidence of any sort of election interference. Indeed, he showed (as Lindell's terms required) that the data had nothing to do with the 2020 presidential election. Lindell, expectedly, refused to pay, and the matter went to arbitration. There, despite Lindell having written the terms to make recovery difficult, the arbitrators sided with Zeidman.
Lindell, whose integrity apparently matches his understanding of election administration, still refuses to pay, prompting Zeidman to file suit in federal court.
Lindell may not have learned much about election administration through these travails, but it appears he is about to learn something about the enforceability of arbitration awards. He will no doubt drag this out as long as he can (and likely cite these travails as he tries to hawk more mediocre pillows), but he will eventually be forced to pay up--unless, of course, he is insolvent by then. Lindell is also facing multiple defamation suits from Dominion Voting Systems and former Dominion executives, and has been hit with legal sanctions for frivolous legal claims.
