Mike Masnick ✅Jan 20, 2023

I see we're in the "FO" part following the "FA" part.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.610157/gov.uscourts.flsd.610157.302.0.pdf

Show threadKen White
@mmasnick I don’t think I’ve ever seen sanctions that high.
Jan 20, 2023 at 4:07amWeb
Show threadGene ParmesanJan 20, 2023
@Popehat @mmasnick does that make it more likely that there’s a way out for Habba or are they pretty much effed and have to pay up?
Show threadPeter MurrayJan 20, 2023
@GeneParmesan @Popehat @mmasnick Presumably, this is can be appealed, though, so the world keeps spinning for a bit longer before this reaches finality.
Show threadNick 'The Viking'Jan 20, 2023

@Popehat @mmasnick

Is it wrong that I chuckled when I read that?

Show threadWrenJan 20, 2023

@nlarson830 @Popehat @mmasnick

We've waited a looong time for this laugh. Enjoy it guilt-free. 😁

Show threadNick 'The Viking'Jan 20, 2023

@wren @Popehat @mmasnick

🤭 I mean Ken's seen a lot so that makes me chuckle more 🤭

Show threadMike CohenJan 20, 2023
@Popehat he won’t pay.
Show threadMike GaruccioJan 20, 2023
@mikec415 @Popehat maybe (probably?) not, but maybe more impactful is what this does to anyone’s willingness to work for him. Whose willing to risk a million dollars in sanctions to file his next nonsense suit?
Show threadJennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊Jan 20, 2023
@mgaruccio @mikec415 @Popehat
Unfortunately, there's always another sucker, another person who genuinely falls victim to the man's cult of personality and thinks that they, alone, have the legal chops to successfully prosecute a case with less evidentiary standing than Russell's Teapot.
Show threadMike GaruccioJan 20, 2023
@theogrin @mikec415 @Popehat your probably right, but it’s hard to believe there’s a kind of law firms waiting to risk that kind of $ on a client already known for not paying their bills.
Show threadJennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊Jan 20, 2023

@mgaruccio @mikec415 @Popehat

Hard as it is to believe, by the time the suit was filed Trump had already shown a long-standing commitment to never settling his obligations, and still they lined up in the hopes that he might invite him into his circle of illusory wealth and fame, like Bernie Madoff but with even less justification.

P.T. Barnum never actually said "There's a sucker born every minute," but the phrase certainly seems to hold true, even amongst those smart enough to pass the bar.

Show threadRhett DerrickJan 20, 2023
@Popehat @mmasnick my rapper stage name is “Sanctions” and even I haven’t been that high.
Show threadml8_ml8Jan 20, 2023
@Popehat @mmasnick What would stop him from paying this fine, then reimbursing himself out of his PAC and calling it a political expense?
Show threadDanJan 20, 2023
@Popehat @mmasnick So assume Trump is Trump and refuses to pay. Does this mean that the other two named parties (Habba and her firm) are responsible for all of it and the court's "solution" to the inequity is "Sue him for it"?
Show threadMike Masnick ✅Jan 20, 2023
@Danielsand @Popehat pretty much, I believe.
Show threadDanJan 20, 2023
@mmasnick @Popehat the Leapord strikes again.
Show threadJenLJan 20, 2023
@Popehat @mmasnick My husband and I (both litigators) had the same reaction. Personally, I would like to see more sanctions for frivolous lawsuits and appeals, but even I was shocked by that number.
Show threadJennifer Kayla | Theogrin 🦊Jan 20, 2023

@Popehat @mmasnick

What gets me is that most of the top-flight attorneys on the defense willingly took hourly cuts from 28% to *66%*, I assume to preclude Trump and Habba from griping overmuch about pay scales. (There was still a token objection over block billing.)

They could have probably justifiably bumped that up to a million and a half, and after the shenanigans displayed throughout, it's not hard to imagine Middlebrooks handing it to them.