Erickson v. Sawyer

• Docket Number: File No. 21-cv-2536 (ECT/DJF)
• Decision Date: 12 January 2023
• Citation: Erickson v. Sawyer, 650 F.Supp.3d 758 (D. Minn. 2023)
• Parties: Randi Lynn ERICKSON, Plaintiff and Counter-Defendant, v. Craig Randall SAWYER, Defendant and Counter-Claimant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota

650 F.Supp.3d 758

Randi Lynn ERICKSON, Plaintiff and Counter-Defendant, v. Craig Randall SAWYER, Defendant and Counter-Claimant.

File No. 21-cv-2536 (ECT/DJF)

United States District Court, D. Minnesota

Signed January 12, 2023

Randi Lynn Erickson, pro se.

Brendan R. Tupa and Oluwatoni Ojoyeyi, Messerli Kramer, Minneapolis, MN for Defendant and Counter-ClaimantCraig Randall Sawyer.

OPINION AND ORDER

Eric C. Tostrud, United States District Judge

Pro se PlaintiffRandi Lynn Erickson filed this lawsuit originally against three Defendants who she alleged had threatened her in retaliation for her efforts to combat human trafficking.Erickson's Complaint was dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction in March 2022.Erickson v. Sawyer, No. 21-cv-2536(ECT/ECW), 2022 WL 911966(D. Minn.Mar. 29, 2022).Before Erickson's Complaint was dismissed, however, one of the Defendants, Craig Randall Sawyer, filed a defamation counterclaim against Erickson seeking compensatory and punitive damages and injunctive relief.ECF No. 20.Erickson failed to answer or otherwise respond to Sawyer's counterclaim, so the Clerk entered default.ECF No. 57.

Sawyer now seeks entry of a default judgment that would, if issued, "grant injunctive relief requiring the removal of online postings about Sawyer and forbidding future defamatory publications against Sawyer by Erickson, enjoin Erickson from future filings in this matter, and any others, without a licensed attorney or court approval, award Sawyer his attorney's fees, and enter a monetary judgment of $1,100,000 in compensatory damages and $1,265,000 in punitive damages for a total damage award of $2,365,000 in favor of Sawyer and against Erickson."Mem. in Supp. [ECF No. 63]at 2.

A default judgment will be entered for Sawyer, though for lesser amounts than he requests and without injunctive relief or attorneys' fees.Sawyer will be awarded $250,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.On the record presented by Sawyer, these are reasonable awards.Much of the injunctive relief Sawyer requests would be legally inappropriate.To the extent he seeks legally appropriate injunctive relief, it is difficult to see what practical benefit Sawyer might gain from the requested relief in view of the counterclaim's allegations.The authority under which Sawyer seeks attorneys' fees, 28 U.S.C. § 1927, does not warrant the imposition of sanctions against Erickson.

The basic process for determining whether a default judgment should be entered is straightforward.(1) The entry of default means that "the factual allegations of the complaint, except those relating to the amount of damages, will be taken as true."10A C. Wright, A. Miller & M. Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil§ 2688.1 (4th ed. & April 2022 Update)(footnotes omitted).(2) Next, it must be determined whether the taken-as-true factual allegations of the operative pleading—here, the counterclaim—"constitute a legitimate cause of action, since a party in default does not admit mere conclusions of law."Marshall v. Baggett, 616 F.3d 849, 852(8th Cir.2010)(quotingMurray v. Lene, 595 F.3d 868, 871(8th Cir.2010)).(3) If the taken-as-true allegations of the complaint constitute a legitimate cause of action, then the amount of the default judgment must be ascertained.Hagen v. Sisseton-Wahpeton Cmty. Coll., 205 F.3d 1040, 1042(8th Cir.2000).

I

A

Start with the factual allegations of Sawyer's counterclaim that will be taken as true.Sawyer is an Arizona citizen.Countercl.[ECF No. 20]¶ 6.He"is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former Navy Seal, having served on the elite Seal Team 6."Id."Since leaving military service, Mr. Sawyer has maintained a prominent niche in public life relating to his military expertise, including involvement with multiple television broadcasts and documentaries."Id.¶ 7. "Mr. Sawyer's success in many of his ventures depends on maintaining a favorable public profile and reputation."Id.

"In 2017, Mr. Sawyer founded Veterans for Child Rescue, Inc.(V4CR), an organization devoted to rescuing victims of child sexual abuse."Id."Sawyer subscribes to a Christian world view, which includes the views that Satanism and Satanic pedophilia are gravely evil, and that child sexual abuse is a heinous crime against Almighty God, against humanity, and against the young victims.[He] has lived his life, raised his family, established his career, and built his reputation, both publicly and privately, on these values."Id.¶ 10. "Mr. Sawyer currently leads a ministry specifically devoted to exposing the evils of satanic pedophilia and/or aiding the victims of such crimes."Id."Mr. Sawyer has never met Ms. Erickson, never spoken with her, and has no relationship with her."Id.¶ 11.

Erickson is a Minnesota citizen.Id.¶ 8."She proclaims to be a 'sovereign citizen' and a member of a task force that gathers actionable intelligence of international crimes with the United States Army Intelligence Support Activity under the name Pentagon Pedophile Task Force."Id.

At the counterclaim's core are a series of allegations concerning statements Erickson has published or republished regarding Sawyer.These are described generally in the counterclaim as follows:

Beginning around November 2018, Ms. Erickson along with cohort Timothy Charles Holmseth began publishing a multitude of false and defamatory statements against Mr. Sawyer.Ms. Erickson relies on Jessie Marie Czebotar as her source for many of her false and defamatory allegations.Ms. Czebotar claims that she witnessed a murder by Mr. Sawyer, as well as several murders by Hillary Rodham Clinton in Chicago in the early 1980s, which included the raping, torturing, and eating of children during satanic rituals, while Mr. Sawyer watched.Ms. Czebotar names several politicians, celebrities, and other high-profile individuals, such as Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle, Mike Pence, John Kerry, Muammar Gaddafi, Amy Coney Barrett, and Elon Musk to name a few, as being involved in some Satanic cult that tortures, rapes, murders, and eats children.Because of the spectacular nature of Ms. Czebotar's claims, her credibility is broadly questioned across the internet and elsewhere[.]

Id.

The Counterclaim also includes more particularized allegations regarding specific statements made by Erickson."Ms. Erickson operates two websites located on the internet [at] www.timothycharlesholmseth.com, and www.writeintoaction.com, and posts video content on the internet along with Mr. Holmseth at www.bitchute.com, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook."Countercl.¶ 12.Mr. Sawyer alleges that several of Ms. Erickson's postings are defamatory:

• "For example, on April 28, 2021, Mr. Sawyer announced that he would be a speaker at a faith conference in Dallas in May 2021.Afterward, Ms. Erickson contacted event organizers and guests telling them that Craig Sawyer is a human trafficker who raped a child."

• "On May 25, 2021, Ms. Erickson published on the internet at: https://www.bitchute.com/video/DKkMnF5p75iO/, that Craig Sawyer is an 'accused Clinton human trafficker,' who 'allegedly raped a child,' led a 'life of crime,''committed more interstate wire fraud,''pedophile,''child-sex offender,' and 'attempting to kidnap and kill . . . Timothy Charles Holmseth.' "

• "Ms. Erickson and Mr. Holmseth have a special section on their website dedicated to . . . Mr. Sawyer located at: https://timothycharlesholmseth.com/?s=CRAIG+SAWYER, which has over 100 postings mentioning Mr. Sawyer with false . . . statements, including, but not limited to, stating that Mr. Sawyer is a 'child rapist,''serial killer,''contract killer,''pedophile,''drug trafficker,' potential presidential assassin, and that he'formed a heavily armed domestic terror group and kidnapping operation,' that is 'ripping people off and working with human traffickers as a way to make himself appear to be anti-trafficking.' "

• On October 15, 2021, Erickson posted a "video" of a "recorded phone conversation between Ms. Erickson and Robert Cottle, a preparedness programs administrator for the Texas Office of the Governor.Beginning at 1:38, Ms. Erickson states that Craig Sawyer is 'involved with child trafficking, and [she] has proof of that . . . internationally.'Such an allegation is completely false . . . .Beginning at 10:14, Ms. Erickson states that Mr. Sawyer is 'operating an independent . . . battleground on child trafficking, but he has not rescued one child.'This is false . . . as the V4CR has made 23 arrests with a 100% conviction rate as a result of its joint sting operations with law enforcement."

• On November 5, 2021, "Ms. Erickson published an apparent account from Adrian John Wells that states that he was kidnapped from his family home in Australia in 1984.Then, Mr. Wells was transported by Mr. Sawyer to a U.S. Army and Hollywood Police pedophile ring involving Harvey Weinstein, then to Arkansas for a pornography deal with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, then to New York City where he was raped by a U.S. Army Soldier in the bed of a New York City Apartment, possibly owned by then Senator Joe Biden.Mr. Wells then states that he was tortured by the CIA under arrangements made by Michael Flynn.This video also posts excerpts from an affidavit of Jessie Czebotar . . . which describes incidences in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, between 1981 and 1984, involving Hillary Rodham Clinton along with Mr. Sawyer serving as her protector.Ms. Czebotar's affidavit states that she witnessed torture and murder of a man who tried to escape the 'Luciferian System.'Further, Ms. Czebotar's affidavit states that she witnessed Mrs. Clinton murder four girls around the age of 10, but not before torturing them, sexually abusing them, and actually eating parts of their bodies--all while Mr. Sawyer was present, watching, and yelling at the children to 'Quit

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