By Mike Scarcella
(Reuters) - Donald Trump ally Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow.com, asked a U.S. appeals court on Wednesday to strike down a $5 million award to a man who successfully debunked his claims of 2020 election fraud.
Lindell's attorney Douglas Wardlow told the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that an arbitration panel that upheld the award overstepped its authority and that the prize should be thrown out.
Lindell has been a steadfast supporter of former U.S. President Trump, the Republican nominee in the Nov. 5 election. He was among many Trump allies who advanced unfounded claims of fraud in the 2020 election that were rejected by the courts.
In 2021 Lindell created the “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge as part of his efforts to establish that Democrat Joe Biden owed his election win over Trump to foreign interference. Contestants were asked to prove data on 11 files provided by Lindell were not “related to” the election.
The private judges overseeing the challenge did not declare a winner, but a software developer named Robert Zeidman convinced an arbitration panel in 2023 that he deserved the $5 million award. Lindell appealed after a trial judge confirmed the arbitrators' decision.
Wardlow argued at Wednesday's hearing that the arbitrators unfairly rewrote the contract at the heart of the contest, bending its focus to the format of election data and not the substance of Lindell's fraud claims.
“We don’t want to send a signal that arbitrators can do whatever they want,” Wardlow said.
Zeidman’s attorney Gregory Porter told the court that “as long as the arbitrators are even arguably interpreting a contract, the award must be affirmed.”
The appeals panel questioned both sides on the scope of the arbitrators' work, including whether they veered from the “essence” of the contract, and on the broad power of arbitrators to interpret contracts.
Porter declined to comment after the hearing. Wardlow said in a statement, "the arbitrators exceeded their powers, and we are hopeful that the court will grant our request to vacate the award."
The case is Zeidman v. Lindell Management LLC, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 24-1608.
For Zeidman: Brian Glasser and Gregory Porter of Bailey & Glasser; and David Schlesinger of Nichols & Kaster
For Lindell: Douglas Wardlow of Lindell Management; and Thomas Miller
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