Hunter Biden and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne are still embroiled in a protracted legal battle in which the president’s son alleges the billionaire defamed him.
Byrne’s lawyer filed a declaration earlier this week, alleging that Biden’s legal team provided the defense with around 543 pages of papers that were not previously made public, were not included in a list of proposed trial evidence, and were, according to deadlines, beyond the discovery cutoff.
In support of a different motion in limine, Byrne contended that throughout the trial of this lawsuit, the court ought to prohibit Biden from referring to, discussing, or using in any way any of the papers included in that purportedly late discovery dump. The defense specifically wishes to exclude any material or witness testimony that was not revealed during discovery, as the overall motion explains.
The lawyers for Biden now claim that Byrne’s lawyer just made a mistake and is raising excessive objections to the materials.
The defendant is mistaken because, according to the Biden answer, the discovery cut-off in this matter is by default November 19, 2024 (three weeks before to the trial date), even though the District Court did not establish one. Documents submitted prior to or on November 19, 2024, are therefore timely.
Biden’s attorneys claim to have submitted the contested documents on November 18, the day before the default discovery deadline.
The lawsuit’s trial is scheduled to start on December 10.
More coverage of law and crime: Hunter Biden is essentially calling him a right-wing nutjob, according to the former CEO of Overstock, in order to maintain the viability of his defamation action with an Iran theme.
Biden alleges in the underlying action that Byrne defamed him twice, in an interview in June 2023 and again in October 2023.
According to Biden, Byrne made untrue allegations that he and his family asked the Islamic Republic of Iran for bribes in return for the Biden administration freeing billions of Iranian money that had been frozen and taking a pro-Iranian stance during nuclear negotiations.
Biden’s lawsuit outlines the complaint’s foundation as follows:
Hunter Biden’s Iranian bribery conspiracy defamation case should be dismissed in its entirety, according to the former CEO of Overstock, since it is impossible to demonstrate that he had any reservations about his statements.
Biden’s attorneys also maintain in the petition on Thursday that the discovery production was, in one pertinent way, nothing new.
From the lengthy response:
Biden’s statement goes on to say that the timely release of documents by the Plaintiff in this regard has not caused any damage to the Defendant.
As the parties compete for their final positions and procedural wins (and losses) before jury selection, the court has held its cards close as the pretrial motions in the case go, providing little insight into how the various requests will unfold.
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