The voting-machine maker’s lawsuit alleges defamation, seeks more than $1.3 billion in damages.
One of the largest makers of voting machines in the U.S. on Monday sued a prominent supporter of former President Donald Trump, alleging that the businessman had defamed the company with false accusations that it had rigged the 2020 election for President Biden.
Dominion Voting Systems sued Mike Lindell, chief executive of Minnesota-based MyPillow Inc., and his company in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking more than $1.3 billion in damages.
In its complaint, the company cites a number of statements made by Mr. Lindell, including in media appearances, social-media posts, and a two-hour film claiming to prove widespread election fraud. Mr. Lindell said he helped produce the film, which he released online in early February.
The complaint alleges that Mr. Lindell made false claims about the integrity of Dominion’s voting machines and that he knew no credible evidence supported his claims that the company had stolen the election from Mr. Trump—what Dominion has called the “Big Lie.”
He is well aware of the independent audits and paper ballot recounts conclusively disproving the Big Lie,” the complaint states. “But Lindell…sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows.”
The suit also names MyPillow as a defendant.
In an interview Monday, Mr. Lindell said he was “very, very happy” to learn of the lawsuit.
“I have all the evidence on them,” he said. “Now this will get disclosed faster, all the machine fraud and the attack on our country.”
Dominion’s lawsuit accuses Mr. Lindell of repeatedly and falsely alleging that algorithms in Dominion’s voting machines had stolen votes from Mr. Trump. It said he had undertaken a marketing campaign for the pillow company based on his support for Mr. Trump and the former president’s claims that the election had been stolen from him.
Dominion says the allegations by Mr. Lindell and others have irreparably damaged its reputation, jeopardized its contracts with state and local governments, and prompted death threats and harassment against employees. The company says it supplies election equipment used by more than 40% of U.S. voters.
Federal and state officials have said there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or changed votes in the November election. Election officials have recounted and audited millions of paper ballots in multiple states, which have affirmed the outcomes tabulated by Dominion’s machines. Those states include Georgia, which Mr. Biden carried by less than 12,000 votes out of roughly 5 million.
Last month, Dominion filed defamation suits against Rudy Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, and pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell . Mr. Giuliani has said he would use the lawsuit to investigate Dominion and that the suit represented an attempt to censor him. Ms. Powell has said that she didn’t publish any statement she knew was false and that she has credible evidence.
Lawyers for Dominion have sent letters to multiple media outlets and others that the attorneys allege spread false claims of election fraud, seeking retractions or instructing them to preserve records related to the 2020 election in case of potential litigation, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
Another voting-machine company, Smartmatic USA Corp., sued Fox Corp.’s Fox News, seeking $2.7 billion in damages for what it alleges were defamatory on-air comments about the company’s products. The network has said it is proud of its 2020 election coverage and has asked the court to dismiss the suit. Fox Corp. and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.
Dominion Chief Executive John Poulos told reporters on Monday, “Despite repeated warnings and efforts to share the facts with him, Mr. Lindell has continued to maliciously spread false claims about Dominion, each time giving empty assurances that he would come forward with overwhelming proof.”
Mr. Lindell has said that a number of retailers have stopped selling his pillow company’s products since he began promoting the election-fraud claims. A spokeswoman for Kohl’s Corp. said that it had decided to stop buying additional inventory but said that the decision was because of decreased customer demand. Similarly, a Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. spokesman said the company dropped the brand because of poor sales, not politics.
Twitter Inc. permanently suspended Mr. Lindell’s account in January for repeatedly violating its civic-integrity policy, a Twitter spokesman said.
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