A jury has determined that far-right activist Ammon Bundy, who oversaw the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, a friend, and three of their organizations must pay more than $50 million in damages for falsely accusing a hospital of child trafficking and intimidating medical personnel.
St. Luke’s Regional Health filed a defamation lawsuit against Bundy and Diego Rodriguez, alleging that they made false claims against the hospital and its staff following the removal of Rodriguez’s infant grandson from his family for several days and transfer to St. Luke’s due to health issues.
According to the Idaho Statesman newspaper, the emergency department doctor, Dr. Rachel Thomas, testified that the 10-month-old child’s stomach was swollen, his eyes were hollow, and he was unable to sit up, reminding her of the very malnourished newborns she had treated in Haiti. Medical experts decided the infant was hungry and had lost weight, according to police reports from the time.
In response, Bundy urged his supporters to demonstrate outside of the hospital and at the residences of those involved in the child protection case, including law enforcement officials, child protection service providers, and others. On his website, Rodriguez claimed that the infant had been “kidnapped” and implied that the authorities and those involved in the case were profiting from “child trafficking.”
In a video he released on YouTube on Monday, Bundy, who skipped the trial and refused to pay an attorney because he said it would be too expensive, denied that the baby had been abused and claimed hospital workers and law enforcement placed him in danger by separating him from his mother. According to Bundy, the infant was healthy other than having cyclic vomiting syndrome, which prevented him from swallowing anything beyond his mother’s breast milk.
Watch the video:
The hospital asserted that Bundy and Rodriguez planned a defamation effort against it. The hospital reported that late on Monday, a jury at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise reached a verdict and awarded damages totaling more than $50 million.
According to a statement released on behalf of the legal team defending the plaintiffs, Bundy, Rodriguez, and their supporters surrounded the Meridian and Boise campuses of St. Luke’s hospitals, forcing lockdowns, diverting emergency patients, impeding planned procedures, and canceling hundreds of appointments.
According to a statement from St. Luke’s, “the jury’s decision imposes accountability for the ongoing campaign of intimidation, harassment, and misinformation these defendants have conducted.” “It also emphasizes the significance of safeguarding medical professionals and other public servants from assaults meant to prevent them from carrying out their duties.”
An inquiry for comments after the jury’s verdict went unanswered by Bundy right away. However, in a Tuesday interview with KBOI News Talk radio, Bundy claimed his innocence and referred to the civil trial as “illegitimate.”
The tweet below verifies the news:
BREAKING π¨
Far-right activist Ammon Bundy loses Idaho hospital defamation case, must pay millions in fines.
Far-right activist Ammon Bundy, an associate, and three of their groups have been ordered by a jury to pay over $50 million in damages for defamation. The lawsuit was⦠pic.twitter.com/5Y2bhg95GQ
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) July 26, 2023
Bundy stated, “I’ve been a thorn in the side of the establishment here in Idaho for quite a while, and this is their mechanism to try to destroy me,” adding that he lacked the money to cover the costs.
The Western States Center, a group that keeps tabs on right-wing extremist organizations, overseen by Lindsay Schubiner, said the verdict “is a moment of real accountability for Ammon Bundy and his reckless campaign against St. Luke’s.”
According to Holland & Hart, the legal team representing St. Luke’s, the jury’s decision orders Bundy to pay the plaintiffs $6.2 million in compensation damages and $6.15 million in punitive damages, and Rodriguez to pay $7 million in compensatory damages and $6.5 million in punitive damages. The People’s Rights Network, Freedom Man Press, and the Bundy campaign for governor received the remaining $52.5 million in damages.
Earlier, Bundy and his People’s Rights Network staged demonstrations against coronavirus-related policies in the Idaho Statehouse. In 2020, he was given a temporary exclusion from the government complex.
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In order to protest the arson convictions of two ranchers who started fires on federal land where they had been grazing their cattle, Bundy organized a 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge close to Burns, Oregon, in 2016. Criminal charges against Bundy were dismissed in the case.
The hospital filed its complaint over a year ago. Since then, Bundy has disregarded court orders pertaining to the lawsuit, filed trespassing complaints against individuals hired to deliver legal paperwork, and invited a large number of his supporters to camp at his house for safety when he learned he might be detained on a warrant for a misdemeanor charge of contempt of court.
In 2014, Cliven Bundy, the father of Bundy, a rancher, organized supporters to prevent officials from seizing animals from the Bundy Ranch due to more than $1 million in outstanding fines and penalties for grazing livestock on public lands. A mistrial was declared in the criminal case in Nevada.
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