A federal judge on Tuesday paused his order requiring a conservative podcaster to pay a $1,000 daily fine and canceled a hearing scheduled for Wednesday to consider more drastic sanctions, citing a need to let the federal appeals court based in Denver have its say.
Last month, U.S. District Court Senior Judge William J. Martínez ordered Joe Oltmann to pay $1,000 each day until he complied with a court order to complete a deposition and to produce documents relevant to the defamation lawsuit in which he is a key player, but not a defendant.
Eric Coomer, the former director of product security and strategy for voting technology supplier Dominion Voting Systems, has initiated several lawsuits based on a similar sequence of events: Conservative commentators and supporters of Donald Trump repeated an inflammatory election-rigging claim originally made about him by Oltmann.
Days after the 2020 presidential election, Oltmann claimed he had recently listened in on an “antifa” conference call — a reference to anti-fascist ideology. On the alleged call, an unnamed participant referenced “Eric … the Dominion guy.” Oltmann claimed “Eric” said, “Don’t worry about the election, Trump is not gonna win. I made f-ing sure of that.”
Based on information found online, Oltmann concluded Coomer was the one who allegedly made the comments of election rigging. Oltmann repeated his story publicly, even after the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency found “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
A worker passes a Dominion Voting ballot scanner while setting up a polling location at an elementary school in Gwinnett County, Ga., outside of Atlanta on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, in advance of two Senate runoff elections.
The lawsuit assigned to Martínez names Oklahoma podcaster Clayton Thomas “Clay” Clark and his “Thrivetime Show” as defendants. They gave Oltmann a platform to promote his unproven story of the antifa conference call.
As part of the proceedings, U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathryn A. Starnella ordered Oltmann to sit for a deposition and provide documents. Oltmann, however, walked out of the courthouse mid-deposition in June, then proceeded to insult Starnella on a podcast hours later.
In response, Starnella recommended Oltmann be ordered to pay $300 plus the parties’ costs, noting he had a history of noncompliance in other venues. On Sept. 4, Martínez agreed Oltmann had repeatedly ignored court orders across cases and subsequently “boasted about it.” Martínez did not believe a $300 fine would get Oltmann’s “full and complete attention,” so he imposed a $1,000 fine per day until Oltmann complied with Starnella’s orders.
FILE PHOTO: The Alfred A. Arraj U.S. Courthouse in downtown Denver. (Photo courtesy of United States District Court – Colorado)
After 12 days passed, Coomer’s attorneys requested that Martínez hold a hearing to deem Oltmann in contempt of court for the tens of thousands of dollars he had yet to pay. They also encouraged Martínez to order Oltmann’s arrest if he failed to appear or failed to comply.
In response, Oltmann’s lawyer called the request “harassment” and asserted that Oltmann lives in Texas — even though he has an active voter registration in Douglas County, as the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office confirmed to Colorado Politics. Further, wrote attorney Mark A. Sares, Oltmann’s “genuine journalistic credentials” should preclude him from having to disclose certain information — namely, the person who gave him access to the unsubstantiated antifa conference call.
Martínez announced on Oct. 3 he would hold a hearing pursuant to Coomer’s request, while simultaneously warning he would not allow Oltmann to litigate any shield he may have as a journalist.
“He did not mention, let alone claim, a journalist privilege in his earlier papers in this case,” Martínez wrote. “Consequently, the Court deems this argument waived, and will not entertain argument or receive evidence on this issue at the Hearing.”
The next day, Oltmann moved to appeal Martínez’s imposition of fines to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. Coomer urged Martínez to stay the course, arguing Oltmann was using delay tactics and his appeal was frivolous.
On the eve of the hearing, however, Martínez conceded the 10th Circuit should hear the appeal before he could proceed any further with Oltmann.
U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martínez
“The Court agrees with Coomer to the extent he suggests that Oltmann’s appeal is unlikely to be successful,” Martínez wrote. He elaborated that “unsuccessful” was not the same as “frivolous,” and Oltmann’s status as a non-party entitled him to an immediate appeal.
“The Court cannot predict when the appeal will be resolved, and on what grounds,” Martínez continued, electing to also put the $1,000-per-day fine on hold. “Assuming Oltmann is not a man of substantial financial means — and the record does not presently support a conclusion that he is — the accrual of such a large sum would likely cause irreparable injury to Oltmann if the Tenth Circuit reversed the Court’s contempt order.”
Oltmann’s daughter has since started an online crowdfunding campaign, with the stated goal of “Fighting Legal Tyranny.” It has raised $16,330 out of a target of $35,000.
The case is Coomer v. Make Your Life Epic, LLC. et al.
