Judge tosses Kash Patel’s lawsuit against blogger who called him a ‘Kremlin asset’
A Nevada judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by FBI Director Kash Patel because the California blogger he sued didn’t have enough of a connection with the Silver State to establish jurisdiction there.
Patel, a Nevada resident, sued Jim Stewartson in 2023, accusing him of spreading “pernicious lies,” including that Patel “attempted to overthrow the government,” “planned 1/6,” is “guilty of sedition,” is a “Kremlin asset” and that he and his foundation paid people to “lie” to Congress.
The FBI director said those claims were “lies,” and “self-serving and self-promoting” ones at that, because Stewartson “has a financial interest in gaining publicity for his podcast and Substack, for which he sells paid subscriptions.”
Patel won a default judgment last year after Stewartson did not defend against the suit. Nevada’s chief federal trial judge, Andrew Gordon, awarded damages of $200,000 to Patel and $50,000 to his foundation.
But then Stewartson moved to set aside the judgment and dismiss the case, arguing that Patel never properly notified him and that the Nevada courts lack jurisdiction. Stewartson said he learned about the judgment from a CNBC article rather than any official court process.
“The Constitution’s guarantee of due process prevents Plaintiffs from availing themselves of Nevada’s courts for claims against Mr. Stewartson,” he said, referring to Patel and his foundation.
Gordon agreed with Stewartson in a July 25 order.
“I grant Stewartson’s motions because he did not have minimum contacts with Nevada sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction,” the Obama appointee wrote.
“Tagging Patel, who happens to be a Nevadan resident, in posts that have nothing to do with Nevada activities or entities does not target a Nevadan audience, and therefore does not create a contact between Stewartson and Nevada,” Gordon wrote, adding that Stewartson’s statements were “aimed at the American body politic writ large, which includes Nevada, but the plaintiffs do not allege facts showing that he directed his allegedly defamatory posts to a Nevadan audience in particular, so he did not aim at Nevada.”
One of Patel’s arguments was that Stewartson knew he was liable in Nevada because he wrote on X last year: “Googly-eyed Kremlin bitch @FBIDirectorKash will have to come back to Nevada for the trial where I explain in full detail to the judge why I was dead serious when I said he’s a ‘chud.’”