Ammon Bundy Runs For Governor

[The Observer]

Today's hearing started 5 minutes late but was finished within 25 minutes. It was business-like and to the point, all of which was most likely assisted by Bundy failing to appear for the hearing. Judge Thurman was there, the image of grandfatherly patience as well as Erik Stidham of Holland Hart and his associate, Engels Tejeda, representing St. Luke's. A Jeff Trousdale was there for the trustee's office, and as the judge noted, some members of the press. But no Ammon, no wife and no brother. No wonder the proceeding was so quick.

First item on the court's agenda was St. Luke's motion to lift the bankruptcy against the permanent injunction issued by the Idaho court. Stidham explained that Bundy, despite the injuction, was continuing to violate it. This meant that St. Luke's, its administration and employees were still being harrassed by Bundy. The judge noted the seriousness of the situation, but pointed out that he had received a statement of opposition from Bundy, but he needed Bundy to be at this moment so he could have Bundy explain what he was trying to do with this opposition statment. At this point I was thinking, "Ah well, Thurman is going to give Bundy another chance by continuing this hearing to another sessioon." But apparently Thurman has ran out of his legendary patience, and simply told the St. Luke's team that since Bundy failed to appear, he was going to grant the motion. This was good to hear since I suspect that St. Luke's will go back to Idaho to get warrants for Bundy's arrest. Judge Thurman did advise Stidham that the lifting of the stay was only in regards to the injuction and did not mean that assets in the bankruptcy estate were still proteced from any collection.

Then Judge Thurman moved to the next item on the calendar. Since I don't have access to the docket, I was a bit suprised to hear the judge say this was an adversarial hearing since St. Luke's had filed a motion for default of judgment. What is this supposed to be and what is it based on? To my utter joy, it turns out that Stidham finally decided to deal with that morbidly obese elephant that has been sitting in plain view, section 523(a)(6)! Stidham was given the chance to give a brief recap of his motion and the basis for it. He went to the heart of the matter - the $53 million judgment was based on willful and malicious conduct and that it was not eligble for discharge. I am sure the motion had a lot more detail, but Thurman heard enough. He said that because this was an adversarial hearing, Bundy was supposed to appear to contest it, but as today nothing has been filed by Bundy and his non-appearance meant it was failure to appear, this meant that the judge did not have any reason to deny the motion. So he granted it and asked Stidham to provide notices to Bundy and the trustee's office.

The hearing ended at that point, but the judge mention he still had two pending motions filed on behalf of St. Luke's and that these would be handled at a future date. I am guessing that they are on the docket but I have lost track of what these could possibly be.

[wserra]

Thank you, Obs. Finally an order that the defamation judgment is not dischargeable.

Despite not appearing, Bundy is sure to whine and moan about how unfair this all is. Just as he has been doing at every opportunity about the defamation trial itself - at which he, of course, also failed to appear.

[JamesVincent]

Thank you, Obs. Finally an order that the defamation judgment is not dischargeable.

Reminds me of your favoritist guy, Alex Jones, trying to lose his judgement through filing bankruptcy. Nice to see some wins for the good guys.

[wserra]

Diego Rodriguez is Ammon's pal whose infant grandson was at the heart of all this - admitted to St. Luke's for "severe malnourishment and dehydration" and kept against the will of his parents. Rodriguez and Bundy were both defendants in St. Luke's defamation case that resulted from their concerted campaign of threats and harassment against both St. Luke's and various individuals associated with it, both physicians and administrators. See the adversary proceeding complaint for details. They ignored discovery orders and the court's repeated warnings of the consequences of that, to the point where the Idaho court defaulted them as to liability. They could still have appeared at the trial to contest damages and causation, but they chose not to do so. The completely predictable result was that the Idaho jury awarded St. Luke's $52M in compensatory and punitive damages.

A couple of days ago, Diego Rodriguez filed his appeal brief. It is 52 pages of whining grievance worthy of . . . no, that would be politics. In fact, he leads off with a lengthy diatribe of how it is because of cases like his that the public has lost confidence in the courts. No ego problem there.

Specific examples of stupid whines are too numerous to mention. Just to illustrate what they're like, consider how he complains about how the trial judge from the beginning "prejudiced the jury against Diego Rodriguez by completely lying about him". During voir dire, a juror questioned his ability to be fair since defendants were not present. The judge told the jury that "the defendants have elected not to participate in the jury trial . . . they were allowed to participate in this process and they've elected not to appear." Rodriguez calls this an "outright lie". Y'know, Diego, I actually agree - the judge should have told the jury the whole truth: "Defendants are arrogant assholes who believe that they can ignore court orders with impunity. The court told them that, if they continued to do so, the court would grant St. Luke's a default judgment on liability. They continued anyway. Even so, the court informed defendants that they had the right to appear before you to contest causation and damages, and they refused. So here we are."

Better, Diego?

[wserra]

I just listened to the audio from the Bundy hearing last Thursday (Jan 30), a little over an hour (OK, I was doing other things at the same time). Two takeaways:

1. Bundy loses on basically everything. He must turn over stuff St. Luke's is demanding. He and his wife must appear for a deposition. He cannot assert the Fifth A. Service of the subpoenas was good on both of them. The stay is lifted so that St. Luke's can go after him for contempt in Idaho. Two minor concessions: St. Luke's must re-serve the subpoena on Lisa, due to a form defect, and the deps can be done virtually instead of in person.

2. Judge Thurman is a VERY PATIENT MAN.

[The Observer]

For some reason, the link above didn't provide the audio as far as I could determine. Did Ammon appear for this hearing? And if so, what did he do or say?

[wserra]

The pdf at the link has an attachment. Adobe (Reader or Acrobat) will show the paperclip icon somewhere on the page, depending on your setup. Click it, you'll see the sound file.

Yes, Ammon appeared. At one point, it sounded as though he started to speak, but Judge Thurman was reading a lengthy opinion and wouldn't be interrupted - needless to say, a good thing. He signed off immediately upon finishing it. The man may be VERY PATIENT, but he's not (nor should a trial judge be) a saint.

[The Observer]

Thanks, Wes. I finally updated my Acrobat app and was able to locate the icon. I have fallen into the Burnaby position on allowing my computer/apps to go out of date since it is getting harder as I get older to focus on learning new things.

I am guessing the next milepost in this case is to see if either Ammon or his wife appear for the depositions. Of course the enforcment on the contempt charge could come first if Idaho can be moved to act on it.

[The Observer]

Ammon posted a couple of videos on Youtube over the last few days. You can find them on Ammon's Youtube site.

In the first video Ammon confirmed that his discharge was denied by Judge Thurman. Of course he puts it down to the overwhelming advantage that St. Luke's legal team had and the tons of paper filed by them. Nothing about the fact that Section 523(a)(6) might have been the real reason for the denial of the discharge or that Bundy's failure to file his motions on time in proper format,to appear timely for the hearings and his total lack of knowledge about the law impacted his case negatively.

The rest of video is mostly whining about his properties and income being taken by St. Luke's and other assets being threatened to be seized. He seems to focus on the fact that St. Luke's is trying to take everything he own which demonstrates his refusal to acknowledge what the consequences of a lawsuit can be.

He then started relating his attempt to secure "exculpatory evidence" from the Meridian Police department (Utah) in relation to his arrest for trespassing at St. Luke's. He is now claiming that the PD failed to turn everything they had in records when Bundy filed a public records request under the Idaho Records Act for discovery for his trial. This supposedly includes e-mails referencing him and as well as videos. But apparently the records request that Ammon requested involved the arrests of another party and the City of Meridian is fighting the request in court. Ammon claims that their argument is that the release of the records would be prejudicial to the police department and that if the information is released it will be distributed to the public. Ammon's view is that a public records search is supposed to accomplish that goal. He also claims that they made the argument that release of information would evoke strong emotional reactions in the public. As such, he thinks that the Meridian PD is covering some sort of crime that they committed.

He then goes off on a tangent about some information he has received from a trustworthy source regarding a sergeant on the Meridian PD that was in charge and present at Ammon's trespassing at St. Luke's. Ammon accuses of him being a psychopath due to how he was physically dealing with the some of the arrestees that night. Apparently this informant claims that this sergeant is pleading out on a physical battery charge on an unrelated case. This explains why Ammon is bending over backwards trying to get evidence to support his views that the Meridian PD were outside the law when arresting him. I suppose he is hoping to get a huge lawsuit award that will offset his current debt.

[The Observer]

The second video is a result of St. Luke's legal team's reaction to the previous video. They filed a 85-page request for an emergency ex parte meeting for the purpose of limiting the public from seeing or viewing the virtual upcoming depositions for Ammon and his wife. If you remember, Ammon was under a restraining order from harassing St. Luke's and its staff via public videos, web pages, etc. due to him pushing misinformation about St. Lukes. It is apparent that the attornies for St. Luke's considers the previous video as being evidence of violating the restraining order, given that Bundy again protested his innocence and accused St. Luke's of kidnapping the baby Cyrus.

The ex parte request specifies that the depositions should be limited to Ammon and his wife and their legal counsel. Of course Ammon sees all of this as just another attempt to muzzle him and keep him from revealing the hideous conspiracy that is arrayed against him and his family. In his reasoning, this request is suspicious given that he has been described as "dangerous" in the filed ex parte request. After all, why wouldn't they want the depositions open to the public so that they can demonstrate how dangerous Ammon is.

I will hazard a guess that St. Luke's didn't file an 85-page ex-parte request because they didn't have anything better to do with their time. I suspect that in that 85 pages the attornies have included evidence and arguments that actually support their position. And they may want to head off any chance of Bundy summoning up all of his followers to attend the Zoom meeting for the purpose of disrupting the proceedings.

And Ammon whined about the fact that his and wife's desposition will occur on separate days and may last 8 hours. But he should have thought about all the possible repercussions due to him filing such a questionable bankruptcy.

[The Observer]

Ammon Bundy streamed two videos of his deposition on Tuesday (2/25/2024). tThey are a total of 6 hours 40 minutes. I am not sure that anybody wants to sit through this, although I imagine there might be some interesting nuggets. Apparently St. Luke's ex parte request was denied since Bundy mentioned that the legal team was not happy that the depo would be live. KI also heard at the beginning someone explaining to Bundy that his followers could observe the proceedings but it would be improper for them to videotape it. I will take some time over the next days to review it and see if something of note happened.

This means that Lisa Bundy's deposition should have happened yesterday. But Bundy has not uploaded that deposition.

[The Observer]

Bundy has posted an excerpt from the deposition with Erik Stidham, the lead attorney for St. Luke's. Of course this excerpt was provided so that he could "prove" that Stidham is pyschopathic. Why does Bundy think Stidham is a pyschopath? Because Stidham is finding sources of Ammon's current income and taking it. He terms it as an involuntary interrogation.

Ammon points out in the interview that the previous collection efforts forced him to take a cash job so that he could "put food on the table" for his family. Then, in what I would term a stupid admission, he explains that he had his father-in-law incorporate so that the checks Ammon received could be processed through a bank. Of course this is just more evidence that Bundy is committing actual fraud in an attempt to defeat St. Luke's ability to collect on a legal judgment against him. Furthermore, this admission puts his father-in-law into a bad spot by confirming he entered into a conspiracy with Ammon to commit fraud.

None of this obviously occurs to Ammon as he proceeds to talk over Stidham and lecture him on being "wicked" towards Ammon and his family. Stidham tries to gain control of the interview but Bundy just drowns him with more rationalizations and phony moralism. Bundy's position is that St. Lukes, through their counsel, has no right to try to take anything and everything from him and his family. Therefore, in Ammon's mind, any attempt on his part to provide for his family is righteous and it should not be allowed.

Stidham at one point accused Bundy of looking at his Youtube followers' remarks on the livestream and is posing for them. This got Bundy mad and he overtalked Stidham for a couple of minutes with more "I-have-the-highground" pontificating about how his actions are only for his family's survival. Stidham put Bundy on a time-out for his behavior, then tried to resume the interview by moving back to the original question that he attempted to ask before Bundy had interrupted him. Bundy told him he had already answered the question and wasn't going to do it again, otherwise he would leave the deposition. He then accused Stidham of being a psychopath and called him a jerk. Stidham again ordered another time-out.

It is obvious that Bundy is being obstructive and evasive. What is not obvious to Bundy is that this is just more evidence that he is providing against himself for any future hearings where a judge might make a decision that Ammon might not like.

[JamesVincent]

Never had to do a deposition. Is that kind of behavior something the judge would take Bundy to task over?

[The Observer]

I think Rule 37 (Failure to Make Disclosures or to Cooperate in Discovery; Sanctions) is the remedy here:

If a deposition-related motion is transferred to the court where the action is pending, and that court orders a deponent to be sworn or to answer a question and the deponent fails to obey, the failure may be treated as contempt of either the court where the discovery is taken or the court where the action is pending.

I would guess it depends on whether Stidham thinks it will be worth his time making a motion to the court. And what will the court do when the judge is presented with Ammon's testimony revealing he has been committing constructive fraud. I don't know if this would result in jail time for Ammon, but if it does, it will mean that he worked really hard to get tossed in a slammer over a filed bankruptcy.

[The Observer]

While we are enduing a brief interlude before the bankruptcy court decides on its next step(s), Ammon decided to post a video sermon explaining what is wrong with the government/country.

Before I get into the meat of this video, I do want to make the observation that it appears Ammon is approaching the event horizon of becoming totally irrelevant to anything or anybody. His videos, his tone, his commentary is reminding me more and more of another sovrun who has rendered himself into nothing - Robert Menard. Ammon has kept coming up with ideas and plans on generating interest and support from his viewers, but none of it is getting him the support he really wants - or needs.

He reached his zenith with his call for supporters to storm St. Luke's and thereafter he has steadily gone downhill. Even his dad, Cliven Bundy, confirmed that Ammon isn't getting the support that he needs. He got 17% or so for his run in the gubernatorial race in 2022 which was pretty good for a sovrun, but he was unable to sustain the momentum of his popularity and to gain new supporters. Which only goes to show that the old song "Everybody Loves A Winner" rings true. At some point we may see Ammon and Rob teaming up to solicit investments for producing armored Goats for the Ukraine.

The newest video on Ammon's YouTube channel has him out in a neglected fruit orchard. He explains that these trees haven't been pruned and have become overgrown to the point that some of them are dying, some of them are not producing fruit and some are being overwhelmed by suckers growing outside of the tree sucking nutrition from the branches. He then jumps to his analogy that like this orchard needing to be pruned severely to save it, then it is quite clear that this is the same solution for the government. Of course he has no cogent plan of how this would be carried out but is hoping that it somehow gets done.

Then he reveals a surprise: his bankruptcy is re-opened. He file a motion with the court for reconsideration of the denial and apparently it was granted! I have no idea of why the court would have granted this, given that 523(a)(6) doesn't allow for discharge. St. Luke's law firm has filed an adversarial action as well, so maybe this has something to do with it. In any event, Ammon sees new hope that he will get the hospital's judgment against him removed. He apparently doesn't understand or accept that the judgment does not qualify under the law for discharge.

[Burnaby49]

You revived old memories! Somehow I'd forgotten the NinjaGOAT! Even with my declining memory I should have retained that. It stands as one of the very few times, if not the only time, that one Menard's wild world-changing flights of fantasy actually resulted in something tangible. A worthless toy fit only for the backyard playtime demonstration he showed us, but tangible nonetheless.

Time moves on at a frightening clip. I just checked the NinjaGOAT video that Menard posted back in his halcyon days and it was almost ten years ago. The video closed with the reminder "Full Business Plan Available" and for those readers interested in a Menardian-style investment I'm sure that its available yet!