FILE – In a Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 file photo, Ammon Bundy speaks during an interview at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, near Burns, Ore. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
The right-wing political agitator known for armed standoffs with the federal government has been ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages for amplifying false allegations of abuse against a medical center and forcing it to temporarily shut down.
Ammon Bundy and his co-defendants, including consultant Diego Rodriguez and three of his organizations, will have to pay a combined total of more than $50 million to St. Luke’s Hospital in Meridian, Idaho, according to a report from local ABC affiliate KIVI. They were found liable for defamation following a jury trial in Boise, Idaho, stemming from a March 2022 incident in which Bundy and Rodriguez refused to leave hospital property and accused the hospital of child abuse, kidnapping, and murder after police intervened in a case involving Rodriguez’s grandchild.
St. Luke’s sued Bundy and his co-defendants in May 2022, saying that they engaged in a “knowingly dishonest and baseless smear campaign” that falsely accused employees and doctors of kidnapping, trafficking, and murdering children in Idaho. The two men called for — and led — days-long protests at the hospital, encouraging supporters to join them and accusing doctors of kidnapping and harming hundreds of children. The hospital says it was forced to go on lockdown on March 15, 2022, as a result of the demonstrations, blocking doctors and nurses from entering or exiting the buildings and forcing the hospital to reroute ambulances and direct patients to other locations.
St. Luke’s also accused Bundy, a one-time candidate for governor in the Gem State, of orchestrating a “campaign of technological disruption,” encouraging followers to flood the phone lines and email inboxes “in an effort to shut down St. Luke’s operations.” Some of those calls, the hospital says, were menacing and included death threats.
A jury sided with St. Luke’s, and according to KIVI, ordered the defendants to pay a combined $26.5 million in compensatory and $25.8 million in punitive damages.
Those damages were divided among the defendants:
- Ammon Bundy: $6.2 million compensatory, $6.15 million punitive
- Diego Rodriguez: $7 million compensatory, $6.5 million punitive
- People’s Rights Network: $5.2 million compensatory, $5.2 million punitive
- Freedom Man Press / Freedom Man PAC: $6.55 compensatory, $6.5 million punitive
- Ammon Bundy for Governor: $1.55 million compensatory, $1.65 million punitive
“Taking legal action is not something we take lightly,” Chris Roth, president and CEO of St. Luke’s Health System, said in a statement, according to KIVI. “But standing up to the threats, bullying, intimidation, disruption, and self-serving actions of the defendants was necessary. Inaction would have signaled that their menacing behavior was acceptable. Clearly, it is not, and the jury’s decision validates that fact.”
In the complaint, St. Luke’s described parents taking an infant to the St. Luke’s Boise emergency room on March 1, 2022. The infant struggled with oral feeding, and the parents consented to all of the care provided, the hospital says. The state’s Department of Health and Welfare intervened after the parents failed to attend follow-up appointments, and police took custody of the infant on March 11. Though the parents did not provide medical information, the hospital says, they consented to the infant’s treatment plan.
The complaint says that St. Luke’s “did not vaccinate the Infant against the wishes of the parents,” nor did St. Luke’s “harm [the Infant] in irreparable ways.” St. Luke’s also denied Bundy and Rodriguez’s allegations of abuse.
“Such statements were false and were intended to attract media attention, incite followers, collect donations, disrupt hospital operations, and defame the St. Luke’s Parties,” the lawsuit alleged. The lawsuit also claims that Bundy and Rodriguez tried to raise money from the protests.
Bundy ignored the lawsuit for almost a year, and in April, the judge overseeing the case issued a warrant for his arrest.
In 2014, Bundy exploded on the national stage with his armed standoff with federal officials in Bunkerville, Nevada, and he remained in the headlines two years later for the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Prosecutions related to both incidents fizzled, the first from a judge-ordered mistrial with prejudice and the latter via an acquittal by a jury.
Adam Klasfeld contributed to this report.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
