The lawyers representing Rudy Giuliani in the effort to force him to turn over assets to pay damages to two former election workers he was found to have defamed want off the case. Ken Caruso and David Labkowski asked a judge to let them quit their client in court filings on Wednesday, NBC News reports—two days before the court's deadline for Giuliani turn over property and financial information to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. The specific reason the lawyers gave was redacted, but the filing suggests their client checks three boxes in the professional code of conduct that permits lawyers to withdraw that apply when the client:
- "Insists upon taking action with which the lawyer has a fundamental disagreement."
- "Insists upon presenting a claim or defense that is not warranted under existing law and cannot be supported by good faith argument."
- "Fails to cooperate in the representation or otherwise renders the representation unreasonably difficult for the lawyer."
Caruso, the lead lawyer, seemed to be following Giuliani's directions last week in federal court in Manhattan while trying to fight off seizure of the former Trump lawyer's 1980 Mercedes convertible and other possessions. Giuliani repeatedly whispered instructions to Caruso, and it didn't always go well, per
CNN. The judge called some of their statements during the hearing "farcical" and "ridiculous," then ordered Giuliani to
turn the car over. The onetime New York City mayor lost a $146 million judgment after falsely accusing the women of election fraud. A spokesman for Giuliani said nobody has told him the lawyers want to leave the case. (More
Rudy Giuliani stories.)
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