Judge Beryl A. Howell wrote that there is a strong danger Giuliani is likely to hide his assets from plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss and is unlikely to succeed in having last week’s the jury verdict overturned or cut down on appeal.
The article I saw on the situation didn’t mention the previous trial, or his failure to comply with discovery obligations, just that a judge ruled he was liable before this trial. Now that I realize the story is “lawyer fails to defend himself properly, so his defense goes poorly”, it makes a lot more sense.
I haven’t followed the nuances of these trials as well as I could have, but someone suggested that Guiliani has a Catch-22: he’s being sued in civil court for defaming two Georgian election workers; and at the same time he’s being prosecuted in criminal court for interfering with the Georgian election. Anything he offers in defense at the civil trial could be used by the prosecution at the criminal trial.