Kari Lake can't escape trial in defamation lawsuit, appeals court says

PHOENIX — An appeals court says Kari Lake can’t escape having to convince a jury she didn’t defame Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.

In a brief order Wednesday, the Arizona Court of Appeals refused to hear arguments by the failed gubernatorial candidate that anything she said about Richer and his role in conduct of the 2022 election is protected by free speech provisions of the Arizona and federal constitutions. Lake, who lost that election to Democrat Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes, had tried to argue that the defamation lawsuit the recorder, her fellow Republican, filed against her should be dismissed.

The appellate judges were no more convinced by her arguments that Richer’s bid to stop her from repeating her statements shows that he brought the lawsuit to silence her. Her attorneys had argued Lake is entitled to the protections of a special Arizona law that requires judges to immediately throw out such lawsuits if they are brought by a public official for the purpose of denying someone his or her constitutional rights.

Unless Lake can get the Arizona Supreme Court to intercede, that clears the way for Richer to present his evidence, although not soon.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jay Adleman has scheduled a pretrial conference for Aug. 21, with no date yet set for trial. That would put the entire issue on display as Lake makes a bid for U.S. Senate, if she becomes the Republican nominee in her bid to oust independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

There was no immediate response from Lake or her attorneys.

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Richer sued Lake last year, saying she “spread intentional or reckless falsehoods’’ about what he did in the 2022 election, statements he said harmed him and his family and resulted in threats of violence and death for family members.

One involves statements Lake repeatedly made that Richer intentionally printed ballots with 19-inch images on 20-inch ballots to sabotage the 2022 general election. Lake also said Richer illegally inserted more than 300,000 phony ballots into the system.

The lawsuit says that Lake, her campaign, and the Save Arizona Fund, which Lake has used to raise money, all acted with “actual malice’’ against Richer. That is crucial because, in general, people who are considered public figures like Richer cannot sue for defamation unless they can prove by clear and convincing evidence that the person making the statement knew it to be false or that the statement was made with a reckless disregard for the truth.

Lake sought dismissal, claiming her comments were “mere rhetorical hyperbole’’ that were never meant as statements of fact. But last month Adleman refused Lake’s bid to toss the case, saying it will be up to a jury to determine whether her statements were true or not.

She asked the appellate court to intercede.

The three-judge appellate panel that issued Wednesday’s order refusing Lake’s bid to dismiss the case did not ask Richer to respond to her claims.