AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
- A judge has put MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's lawsuit against Dominion on hold.
- It's a countersuit against Dominion's $1.3 billion defamation suit against Lindell and his company.
- A federal judge in DC is weighing whether to dismiss Dominion's original lawsuit.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
A federal judge in Minnesota has pressed pause on pro-Trump pillow mogul Mike Lindell's lawsuit against Dominion Voting Systems.
US District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz's order, issued Wednesday afternoon, granted Dominion's request to put a hold on the case amid ongoing litigation in another lawsuit in Washington, DC.
Lindell sued Dominion in June to counter the voting technology company's earlier lawsuit against him and his company, MyPillow.
The CEO has pushed false conspiracy theories alleging Dominion flipped the results of the 2020 presidential election from former President Donald Trump to now-President Joe Biden. Dominion sued in April, alleging $1.3 billion in defamation damages and arguing that Lindell's media tour for his conspiracy theories amounted to a marketing campaign for MyPillow.
Lindell's countersuit, now on hold, doubles down on the false election claims and alleges that Dominion's lawsuit violated racketeering laws. Lindell has claimed his lawsuit will force the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 election results and reinstate Trump as president, which is not possible under the US Constitution.
In addition to suing MyPillow and Lindell, Dominion has also sued Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, both of whom worked as election attorneys for Trump and pushed other conspiracy theories about the technology company. DC-based US District Judge Carl J. Nichols consolidated those lawsuits and heard arguments in late June over whether to allow the defendants' motions to dismiss them. Nichols hasn't indicated when he will come to a decision.
Dominion told Schiltz, the judge in the Minnesota case, that it would move to dismiss Lindell's lawsuit but wanted to hear the DC-based judge's reasoning first to create less paperwork. Schiltz also, on Tuesday, put on hold a separate lawsuit from MyPillow against Dominion using the same reasoning.
"Dominion plans to move to transfer or dismiss this case for many of the same reasons it will move to dismiss or transfer the My Pillow suit," an attorney for Dominion wrote. "Because the issues in this case – which was brought by My Pillow's inventor, founder, CEO, and spokesperson, Michael J. Lindell – and the My Pillow case are substantially similar, we respectfully request that the Court stay this case as well."