By Jan Wolfe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Michigan on Wednesday demanded that lawyers who unsuccessfully sued to overturn former President Donald Trump’s election defeat reimburse the state $22,000 for legal costs, and the City of Detroit was preparing a claim expected to be far higher.
State election officials made the court filing to meet a deadline for state and local reimbursement claims under a ruling by U.S. District Judge Linda Parker.
She ordered the repayment as part of sanctions against the lawyers who included Sidney Powell, a former campaign lawyer for Trump, and prominent litigator Lin Wood.
The Trump lawyers sued in Michigan last year to overturn Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump. Parker suggested they might deserve to lose their law licenses.
The City of Detroit was expected to file a request for reimbursement later on Wednesday that will be much larger than the one submitted by the state.
Parker said in an Aug. 25 ruling that the pro-Trump lawyers should have investigated the Republican former president’s voter fraud claims more carefully before filing what Parker called a “frivolous” lawsuit.
Parker, who dismissed the Michigan suit in December, formally requested that disciplinary bodies investigate whether the pro-Trump lawyers should have their law licenses revoked. The judge also ordered the lawyers to attend classes on the ethical and legal requirements for filing legal claims.
“This lawsuit represents a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process,” Parker said in her decision, adding that the case “was never about fraud – it was about undermining the People’s faith in our democracy and debasing the judicial process to do so.”
(Reporting by Jan WolfeEditing by Cynthia Osterman)
