AZ Supreme Court Denies Special Action Appeal From The Cyber Ninjas Challenging Sanctions Imposed For Failure To Comply With Court Orders

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Update to AZ Court Of Appeals Orders Arizona Senate To Produce Cyber Ninjas GQP ‘Fraudit’ Documents ‘Immediately’.

The Arizona Supreme Court has denied the special action appeal filed by QAnon conspiracy theorist Doug Logan dba Cyber Ninjas. Arizona Supreme Court won’t consider Cyber Ninjas appeal:

The Arizona Supreme Court is declining to consider a request by Cyber Ninjas Inc. to throw out a $50,000 per day fine for failing to release public records about the state Senate’s 2020 election review.

Justice Ann Scott Timmer wrote in an order dated Thursday that the request should be filed with the Court of Appeals.

The rejection is another failure in Cyber Ninjas repeated attempts to get the Supreme Court to weigh in on lower court rulings that found the company is subject to the state public records law. In the latest petition, Cyber Ninjas repeats arguments it made in November — which the court declined to consider — and made a new argument that the $50,000 fine was improper.

The company argued the fine is punitive and based in part on information the judge read in the news, not facts presented in court.

That daily fine started accumulating in January and has grown to more than $3 million.

Cyber Ninjas was the chief contractor hired to lead the Senate’s unprecedented review of election materials from Maricopa County, including ballots and counting machines. The company is fighting public records requests lawsuits filed by the parent company of The Arizona Republic newspaper and American Oversight, a left-leaning watchdog group.

Paul Welch at AZ Law blog explains:

The full Arizona Supreme Court today REJECTED Cyber Ninjas’ latest effort to overturn the $50,000/day fine for not turning over public records from its Arizona election “audit”.

Duty Justice Ann Timmer signed the Order but noted that it came after “consideration by the full court”. She thoroughly runs through the convoluted timeline of the public records lawsuits filed by the Arizona Republic and American Oversight, before noting that the Ninjas’ attorney (Jack Wilenchik) “failed to adequately explain” why he should skip the intermediate Court of Appeals level in considering his latest effort.

“A special action challenging the entry of a non-appealable order involving a pure question of law or a mixed question of law and fact should generally be presented to the court of appeals in the first instance. CNI has not adequately explained why it cannot initially seek relief from that court. First, although many, but not all, issues were briefed in the November petition, this Court did not consider or rule on the merits of that petition, meaning we are not in a better position than the court of appeals to decide this petition. Second, the court of appeals, which has previously considered the August 24th order, is familiar with the issues in this case. Third, filing a petition with the court of appeals will not add an unnecessary level of appellate review. As in all cases, whether to review the court of appeals’ decision, if requested, would be discretionary, meaning the court of appeals’ decision here may be the final one. Fourth, CNI’s financial wherewithal and the growing sanction amount has no bearing on its ability to file its petition with the court of appeals.”





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