Prominent right-wing figure Ammon Bundy found guilty in Idaho hospital defamation lawsuit, obliged to pay massive penalties

Ammon Bundy, a leading right-wing activist known for staging a federal wildlife refuge takeover in Oregon, together with an associate and three of their affiliated organizations, has been ordered by a jury to pay in excess of $50 million for making groundless accusations of child trafficking against a hospital and for subjecting its medical staff to harassment.

St. Luke’s Regional Health launched the defamation lawsuit, accusing Bundy and Diego Rodriguez of disseminating slanderous statements about the hospital and its workforce in response to the removal of Rodriguez’s infant grandson from his family due to health concerns. The child was admitted to St. Luke’s for several days.

Dr. Rachel Thomas, the ER physician, testified that the 10-month-old baby was extremely malnourished. His stomach was bloated, his eyes were sunken, and he couldn’t sit upright, reminding her of the severely malnourished infants she had treated in Haiti, reported the Idaho Statesman newspaper. The child was determined to be undernourished and had lost weight, according to police statements at the time.

In reaction, Bundy motivated his followers to organize protests at the hospital and at the residences of child protection service employees, police officers, and others implicated in the child protection case. Rodriguez suggested on his website that the infant was “kidnapped” and that those involved were participating in “child trafficking” for financial gain.

Bundy—who neither attended the trial nor hired a lawyer, deeming it too expensive—posted a video on YouTube denying the child was neglected and arguing that the actions of law enforcement and hospital staff endangered him by removing him from his mother. According to Bundy, the infant was healthy except for cyclic vomiting syndrome and could only tolerate his mother’s breast milk.

St. Luke’s alleged that Bundy and Rodriguez directed a campaign of defamation against the institution.

On Monday evening, a jury at the Ada County Courthouse in Boise concurred, awarding damages surpassing $50 million, as announced by the hospital.

A statement from the law firm representing the plaintiffs, Holland & Hart, revealed that Bundy, Rodriguez, and their supporters had staged protests around St. Luke’s hospital campuses in Meridian and Boise, causing lockdowns, rerouting of emergency patients, disruptions of planned procedures, and cancellations of hundreds of appointments.

St. Luke’s praised the jury’s verdict, stating it “holds accountable those responsible for the ongoing intimidation, harassment, and misinformation campaign. It also emphasizes the significance of safeguarding healthcare providers and other public servants from assaults aimed at hindering their duties.”

While Bundy didn’t immediately comment on the jury’s verdict, he proclaimed his innocence in a Tuesday interview with KBOI News Talk radio, dismissing the civil trial as “illegitimate.”

Lindsay Schubiner, the program director at Western States Center, a group that monitors right-wing extremist organizations, saw the verdict as “a moment of genuine accountability for Ammon Bundy and his reckless campaign against St. Luke’s.”

According to the law firm, the jury’s verdict obligates Bundy to pay $6.2 million in compensatory damages and $6.15 million in punitive damages, while Rodriguez must pay $7 million in compensatory and $6.5 million in punitive damages. The People’s Rights Network, Freedom Man Press, and the Bundy campaign for governor are responsible for the remaining amount of the total $52.5 million damages.

In the past, Bundy and his People’s Rights Network held protests at the Idaho Statehouse against coronavirus-related restrictions, and he was temporarily banned from the government building in 2020. He was acquitted of criminal charges following a 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, in 2016.

The hospital filed its lawsuit over a year ago. Since then, Bundy has repeatedly ignored court orders relating to the lawsuit, filed trespassing complaints against those delivering legal documents, and asked his followers to stay at his home for protection when he thought he might be arrested on a misdemeanor charge of contempt of court.

Bundy’s father, rancher Cliven Bundy, rallied supporters in 2014 to prevent officials from confiscating Bundy Ranch cattle over more than $1 million in unpaid fees and penalties for grazing livestock on government land. The Nevada criminal case ended in a mistrial.

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More about Defamation case.

• Idaho Statesman
• KBOI News Talk
• Western States Center
• Holland & Hart Law Firm
• Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
• The Nevada Independent