Government

Mike Lindell Don't Need No Stinkin' Lawyers

He's got Jesus ... and discount codes!

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US-POLITICS-ELECTION

(Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Mike Lindell may need to lie down. The Pillow King just lost his last lawyer in the litigation over the $5 million award in his “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge.

His longtime counsel Andrew Parker noped out of several Pillowland cases in March after his client indicated he was out of stuffing. Oddly enough, there aren’t many attorneys willing to represent a guy who went on Steve Bannon’s show and bragged about his “courageous” decision to stiff his prior counsel. But Thomas Miller, a bankruptcy lawyer from Wayzata, Minnesota, stepped into the breach, at least with respect to challenging an arbitration ruling ordering Lindell to make good on his promise to pay $5 million to anyone who could prove that his pile of digital gobbledygook was not election information.

Software engineer Robert Zeidman accepted the challenge, and, when Lindell refused to pay up, arbitrated the case as per the terms of the contest. The arbitrators ruled unanimously in Zeidman’s favor, after which the dispute landed on the docket of Judge John Tunheim, who was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1995.

Judge Tunheim grumbled mightily that he would probably have reached a different conclusion from the arbitrators, but concluded that the Federal Arbitration Act is clear.

“Where parties agree to arbitrate, a court cannot substitute a judicial determination for the arbitrator’s decision,” he wrote, noting that “even the potentially serious legal error of using extrinsic evidence to interpret an unambiguous term is not enough to vacate the award” under the plain terms of the Federal Arbitration Act, which only allow reversal for “corruption, fraud, or undue means.” Indeed, the Eighth Circuit has held that an arbitration ruling may only be overturned if it is “completely irrational or evidences a manifest disregard for the law.”

Undeterred, Lindell docketed his appeal, complaining that the arbitrators considered extrinsic evidence in interpreting the terms of the agreement drafted by Lindell’s own lawyers. Essentially, he claims the award is invalid because the arbitrators violated the parol evidence rule.

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But as Zeidman’s lawyers pointed out (again) in their own brief, arbitration is not a trial, and the arbitrators are not bound by the rules of evidence. In fact, Lindell’s own contract said “Arbitration is more informal than a lawsuit in court and uses a neutral arbitrator instead of a judge or jury.”

“Lindell’s rehashed factual arguments cannot carry the day,” they went on. “Lindell has nothing. Lindell fails to meet the standard set forth by the FAA which provides the exclusive avenue through which this Court may alter or amend the Award.”

In the meanwhile, back in Judge Tunheim’s courtroom, things are getting worse for Lindell, with Miller first moving to withdraw on June 4, and then being released on the 14th after convincing the court that he is “no longer able to serve.” AHEM.

This leaves Lindell Management, LLC, the titular defendant, in a bit of a pickle, since a corporate entity cannot appear pro se. Luckily Douglas Wardlow, a former Minnesota House Member and the current General Pillow Counsel, agreed to accept service.

Reached for comment, Lindell said …

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Zeidman v. Lindell Management LLC [Trial Docket via Court Listener]
Zeidman v. Lindell Management LLC [Circuit Docket via Court Listener]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.

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