The future of Ammon Bundy’s bankruptcy case is now in the hands of a federal judge as he tries to discharge a $52 million civil judgment brought by St. Luke’s Health System.
Bundy, the anti-government activist and former Idaho gubernatorial candidate, has been trying to wipe clean the $52 million civil judgment through bankruptcy since last summer.
An Idaho jury found Bundy repeatedly defamed St. Luke’s Health System in 2023, saying staffers were accessories to child traffickers.
That includes when child protective services took a close friend’s grandson to the hospital for a wellness check over his parents’ objections.
St. Luke’s lead attorney, Erik Stidham, wants the judgment to stand, saying Bundy should be held responsible for his actions.
“The maliciousness and willfullness, those issues were decided in the case and those are exactly the same issues that we are urging here today,” Stidham said during a hearing Tuesday.
Bundy, who still has a $250,000 arrest warrant in Ada County related to the case, disputes the hospital’s claims.
“There’s never been a greater lie than the one Mr. Stidham is claiming now and that is that I advocated for baby Cyrus to get money and fame,” he said.
The judge overseeing the case says he’ll rule on St. Luke’s request to decide the case without a trial over the coming weeks.
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