Faced with the prospect of turning over information that could be used against her at trial, former gubernatorial and current U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake is seeking to forfeit her ability to defend herself in court in an ongoing defamation case.
Lake and her attorneys are requesting default judgment, which means a jury could decide damages in the suit. The request means Lake could avoid most discovery in the case. That’s the formal process of exchanging information between attorneys about witnesses and evidence that could be presented before a jury at trial.
The initial lawsuit,
filed in June by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, accuses Lake and her affiliates of spreading false information about Richer after the November 2022 election. He alleges Lake knew, or should have known, the statements were false. Lake and Richer are both Republicans.
The news comes days after
Richer's attorneys requested sanctions against Lake, claiming her attorneys were "doing everything possible to waste time and stall discovery."
His team also entered an application for default against Lake and her attorneys, alleging her lawyers were refusing to move the case forward.
Weeks ago, the Arizona Supreme Court
lifted a temporary stay in the defamation lawsuit and
rejected Lake's appeal challenging Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jay Adleman's December decision to allow the case to go forward.
Attorneys for Richer previously told The Republic that discovery would be "a reasonably lengthy process" that could take "several months." The case could have gone to trial during a contentious election year in which both Richer and Lake will be running for elected offices, or immediately after in 2025.
