Colorado appeals court: Podcaster did not conspire with Trump campaign to defame ex-Dominion director

DENVER (CN) — Following the 2020 election, a Colorado podcaster, bloggers, commentators and the Donald Trump campaign all falsely claimed a Dominion director had rigged the results in favor of Joe Biden. While each of these parties defamed the worker with malice, the Colorado Court of Appeals found on Thursday, they did not conspire to do so together.

Following the 2020 election, the host of the Conservative Daily podcast, Joseph Oltmann, claimed to have heard a man identified as “Eric from Dominion” say on a call that he was going to make sure Trump lost. Internet research led Oltmann to conclude the speaker was Eric Coomer, a director of product strategy and security at Dominion Voting Systems in Denver.

The claim sparked and spread like wildfire after the 2020 election, when it was picked up by the OAN network, then repeated by the Trump campaign, along with attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

In his 2020 lawsuit, Coomer identified more than a dozen individuals and companies that collectively made him the villain in the narrative of baseless claims of election fraud. Coomer has since filed additional lawsuits against Denver-based conservative radio host Randy Corporon and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell.

Trump's campaign organization countered with a special motion to dismiss, citing the state’s anti-SLAPP statute, designed to kill frivolous lawsuits that threaten the right to criticize the government.

At the time, Colorado had no case law applying the three-year-old rule, although several other Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation cases have generated guidance since then. A Denver judge held a two-day bench trial in October 2021 and denied each party’s motions to dismiss in May 2022. Trump, Oltmann, Giuliani, Powell and the others appealed.

The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the trial court's finding that these parties defamed Coomer with malice, but dismissed his conspiracy claims.

"Even if there were an agreement among defendants — as opposed to parallel efforts stemming from a shared political ideology — to undermine the legitimacy of the election, Coomer cannot prevail by showing an agreement to undermine the legitimacy of the election generally,” Schuck writes. “He must show an agreement to defame or inflict emotional distress upon him.”

The Court of Appeals additionally found two tweets to be protected under the Communications Decency Act — Eric Trump retweeting a Gateway Pundit article and President Trump sharing an OAN segment. Though the Trump campaign cannot be held liable for the tweets, the court noted that Coomer’s claims do not die with their loss.

Court of Appeals Judges Anthony Navarro and Eric Kuhn signed onto the opinion. All three judges were appointed by Democratic governors: Kuhn and Shock by Jared Polis; Navarro by John Hickenlooper.

Having survived the anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss, Coomer’s case returns to the Denver court for further proceedings toward his requested jury trial.

“We are very pleased by today’s ruling and by the opportunity to bring this case to trial after nearly three and a half years,” said Attorney Zach Bowman, of the Austin-based firm Cain & Skarnulis via email. “We are eager to get this case back to the trial court and before a Denver jury.”

Donald J. Trump for President Inc. is represented by Andrew Nickel of the Denver firm Campbell Killin, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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