A federal appeals court has ruled that a panel of arbitrators overstepped its authority when it decided Mike Lindell had to pay $5 million to a software engineer who said he debunked data that the MyPillow founder claimed proved foreign interference in the 2020 election.
In 2021, Lindell started the “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge” during an event in Sioux Falls, saying anyone who proved his data wrong would be awarded $5 million. Lindell became a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud after the 2020 presidential election
Robert Zeidman, the software engineer, entered the contest and later submitted a 15-page report explaining that “the data Lindell provides … unequivocally does not contain packet data of any kind and (does) not contain any information related to the November 2020 election,” according to court records.
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A three-person arbitration panel examined the case in 2023 and determined that Lindell had to pay Zeidman, and a federal judge later backed up the panel’s decision, USA TODAY reported.
But in a 12-page opinion issued July 23, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, saying the arbitration panel “did more than construe an ambiguous contract term” in the contest’s official rules when it concluded that Zeidman had proved the files were not election data by showing they were not packet capture data.
“Fair or not, agreed-to contract terms may not be modified by the panel or by this court,” the appellate court’s decision says. “Adding a form-of-data requirement imposed a new obligation upon (Lindell), effectively amending the contract.”
The decision instructs a lower court to either reverse the arbitration award or conduct further proceedings “not inconsistent with this opinion.”
Lindell described the court’s ruling as “vindication” in an interview with The Hill.
“This opens a door that no man can shut,” Lindell said. “I am so excited. I mean, this is an answer to prayer.”
Zeidman’s attorney, Brian Glasser, told the news outlet in an email that “readers can judge for themselves if the Eight Circuit’s decision today is more persuasive, or rings in truth louder, than the unanimous contrary decision of three arbitrators who heard all the evidence.”
Multiple recounts, reviews and audits have confirmed the results of the 2020 election were legitimate.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: MyPillow founder doesn’t need to pay in contested dispute, court says