Rudy Giuliani and the Possibly the Worst Legal Document Ever Filed
Added 2025-02-03 08:40:36 +0000 UTCOA1120- This episode was first published on our sister show, Gavel Gavel, and has been made available at no charge for our wonderful Opening Arguments patrons!
Folks, we and you deserve a little treat. And let me tell you, this is a treat. Mwuah! Chef's kiss. Here's a triple episode for ya!
Rudy Giuliani is such a piece of shit that the last real lawyers he could find quit. And so, enter... some guy from Staten Island. He gave us, and the world, truly one of the stupidest, worst written legal documents in recorded history. And in such a serious case, as well! We spend the entirety of this recording digging into it. Come for the weird typos and endless sentences, stay for the lecture on the evils of liberal democracy and wildly unnecessary references to the judge’s father! Superstar public defender Liz Skeen joins us to draw from her past life as a NY litigator to provide the local and legal context for… whatever this is.
“Defendant’s Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Hold Defendant in Civil Contempt and Impose Sanctions,” Ruby Freeman & Wanshae Moss v. Rudolph W. Giuliani (12/19/2024)(SDNY)(today’s reading)
Plaintiff’s summary judgment brief (10/2/24)
Plaintiffs’ request for sanctions (10/29/24)
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Comments
thank you for your (justifiable) concern, still have a few burst blood vessels but I haven’t bled out 💀💀💀
Liz Skeen
2025-02-06 19:03:05 +0000 UTCI enjoyed this more than. I expected to. Listening to Liz go ever more insane had me giggling. Anyone check on her? Did she survive this ordeal?
Supreme Court Pretextualist
2025-02-06 15:29:47 +0000 UTCPROpounding us clearly not, " allowed, while " working pro bono! This is obviously propolitical YOUR, honor.
Drew Vogel
2025-02-05 15:00:48 +0000 UTC"Am I a bad lawyer? No, that is not true and it is false"
Archer
2025-02-05 04:12:10 +0000 UTCthis makes me feel a lot better about my 1L brief feedback
K
2025-02-05 00:40:13 +0000 UTCI hope we didn't say anything to suggest that he deserved all the praise! I was only trying to make the point that he was very popular and well-regarded by a lot of people and wasn't acting like this in public until recently. We have been pretty clear (I hope) on OA in the past that we don't think much of his career (incl stop-and-frisk, "broken windows," etc) but I think the overall point was just to acknowledge that being the USA for SDNY and the mayor of NY are both inherently major positions of power and you wouldn't necessarily expect someone of that description to fall quite as hard as he did. (Also I didn't know that about the radios, that is horrible.)
Matt Cameron
2025-02-04 16:46:52 +0000 UTCThis was recorded before the settlement
KaryllTheWarlock
2025-02-04 06:43:47 +0000 UTCI gotta know, what was the font?
Oso Hermoso
2025-02-04 04:08:07 +0000 UTCWas this filed by a *frozen* caveman lawyer?? This episode is amazing.
Status Quo Level Thing
2025-02-04 03:32:45 +0000 UTCThomas… that 9/11 comment… I almost choked on my toothbrush.
Status Quo Level Thing
2025-02-04 03:20:26 +0000 UTCI'm looking forward to Chuck Tingle's "Propounded in the Butt by My Own Terrible Legal Document", which I might doubtlessly probably find on the Internet and/or the their Website. Lulz aside, I think it's important to note that for any Trump or Trump-adjacent legal bullshit'ry, the judge is not the audience and never has been. Rather, the authors of this kind of garbage are directly addressing the Republican voter base as a "Get Out Of Jail" card, a fundraising grift, or both. This was very obvious during the Kraken lawsuits. Sidney Powell would submit something that went "It was the best of elections, it was the blurst of elections" and Republicans would screech and fling poop and open their bank accounts. Similarly, Alex Jones during his depositions and trial testimony was never addressing anyone but viewers of InfoWars. He was creating content, and would explicitly state as much when he went live to gloat about the day's proceedings, while simultaneously crying poor and getting showered with cash. I think this document is a similar attempt, but probably less effective because Giuliani is such a despicable melted loser. Part of the reason it's so half-assed is that Giuliani and his dipshit lawyer have about as much respect for the average Republican voter as they do for the plaintiffs. One thing I found particularly disgusting was the assertion that the plaintiffs weren't suffering losses as a result of Giuliani's conduct. The court had already found that Freeman and Moss suffered $148million -- ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS -- of damages. So, insofar as Freeman and Moss did not have 148 million dollars, yes they fucking were suffering losses due to Giuliani's fart-assing around. The implication was essentially, "Who the fuck do these women think they are? They're nobodies who never had shit and whose lawyers are working for free, what the fuck could they want with 150mil? It's not like they're important people with shit to do. They're nobodies, and they want my/my client's money." I might be reading between the lines too much but to me, the classism and racism just ooze out of those statements. The document is not only disrespectful to whoever has to read it, it's insulting to the plaintiffs, and it's fucking gross.
Bald Weasels Scrotal Manscaping
2025-02-04 01:37:23 +0000 UTCIt's strange to see y'all say thinks like "It's strange to see what he has become" and "He was justifiably lauded and praised back then". In fact, his corruptness and bad leadership caused a LOT more harm than good even back then, and especially on 9/11. Example: A 1994 mayoral office study of the radios indicated that they were faulty. Giulianni and his team used this as an opportunity to do some side-deals and the replacement radios were purchased in a no-bid contract. These new ones were implemented in early 2001, however, in March 2001 the replacement radios were found to be faulty as well. The consequence is that when the Fire Department chiefs issued orders for the firefighters to evacuate on 9/11. Giulianni's shitty radios failed, the order was issued over the radios that were not working in the towers, and the 343 firefighters inside the Twin Towers could not hear the evacuation order. They remained in the towers as the towers collapsed. That's not the worst part, though, because in an effort to save his own corrupt ass; when Giuliani testified before the 9/11 Commission he said that the firefighters ignored the evacuation order out of an effort to save lives, rather than because the no-bid contract he awarded to a crony resulted in faulty equipment which doomed the real heroes.
WiseThat
2025-02-04 00:46:12 +0000 UTCI think the word was compounded instead of propounded. Still the document was a perfect example of what not to write in a legal document.
Ryan
2025-02-03 19:23:17 +0000 UTCTrump has the Mierdas Touch!
Mike
2025-02-03 18:03:23 +0000 UTCThe actors from the Folgers incest commercial think the Rudy's ad is cringe.
Gmork
2025-02-03 14:37:58 +0000 UTCGiuliani was criticized for his fascist or authoritarian approach to mayoring-see for example numerous pieces in the village voice from that period.
Lawrence Frank
2025-02-03 13:42:31 +0000 UTCGiuliani factoid: in a crowded Republican primary debate, incredibly, the moderator asked who accepted and believed the theory of evolution. Only Giuliani said he did. Definitely a mark in his favor and in favor of his sanity at the time. But that was a long time ago. As AO has stated, everything Trump touches turns to s—- Giuliani proved no exception to this rule.
Lawrence Frank
2025-02-03 13:41:25 +0000 UTCI kept waiting for the brief to go full IASIP and declare, "because plaintiff is a bastard man!"
Gmork
2025-02-03 12:56:14 +0000 UTCIIRC we don't know the exact terms of the agreement. He may have been allowed to sign the property over to them in something like a life estate, so Ruby and Shaye technically own it but Rudy can stay there while he's still alive. Plus it came with a stipulation that he stop defaming them, so they can instantly go back to court for a new judgement ala Carroll v. Trump if he does, with more teeth to actually stop him this time because he explicitly agreed to their terms.
Chris Conley
2025-02-03 11:35:39 +0000 UTCI thought Giuliani settled this case and kept his houses?
Lawrence Frank
2025-02-03 11:21:08 +0000 UTC
