Judge decides not to sanction Kari Lake over failed election challenge

PHOENIX — An Arizona judge on Tuesday declined to sanction Republican Kari Lake and her attorneys over her failed bid to overturn her loss in the 2022 governor’s race.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, her office and Maricopa County officials had been seeking reimbursement for hundreds of thousands dollars in legal fees.

While rejecting the sanctions requests, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled that the defendants were due about $33,000 in “taxable costs” under state law, including expert witness fees.

Two days after the case was decided in their favor, the defendants filed motions Monday asking Thompson to issue sanctions against Lake and her attorneys. The largest amount out of multiple requests was from Hobbs, who was seeking recovery of more than $600,000.

Maricopa County’s motion asked for Lake and her attorneys to be sanctioned “to impart to them the seriousness of their misuse of the courts to seek to undermine Arizona elections and impugn hardworking elections workers and officials for purely political – not legal – purposes.”

Lake’s side filed a response Monday that argued she “put forth evidence in good faith that showed substantial support for her claims,” and therefore sanctions are not warranted.

Thompson agreed with Lake’s argument.

“The court finds that Plaintiff’s claims presented in this litigation were not groundless and brought in bad faith,” Tuesday’s ruling says.

During a two-day trial last week, lawyers for Lake focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County. County officials said everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were counted.

In a decision released Saturday, Thompson ruled that Lake’s team did not present convincing evidence of widespread misconduct that would have affected the results.

The judge, who was appointed to the bench by former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, gave the defendants until 8 a.m. Monday to file motions for sanctions and attorney fees. The plaintiffs had until 5 p.m. to respond.

Hobbs defeated Lake by just over 17,000 votes in the Nov. 8 general election. The Democrat will take office as governor on Jan. 2.

Before this year’s primary election, Lake and Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem lost their lawsuit seeking to bar the use of tabulation equipment. The judge in that case said it “lacked an adequate factual or legal basis” and sanctioned the plaintiff’s lawyers, but not Lake and Finchem themselves.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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