(José Niño, Headline USA) As rancher Ammon Bundy’s legal battles mount, a federal judge prepares to rule on whether his bankruptcy can erase a massive judgment stemming from a high-profile hospital defamation case.
Bundy’s bankruptcy stems from a protest Bundy organized at St. Luke’s Health System in March 2022, after a baby at the hospital was allegedly taken into custody by child protective services for health problems. Bundy, who did not attend the St. Luke’s trial, is known for his family’s years-long battle with the federal government over the use of land that the Obama administration illegally sought to commandeer from them.
The hospital protest led to St. Luke’s to go into lockdown, with the hospital closing to visitors and rerouting its emergency services.
St. Luke’s sued Bundy and his associate, Diego Rodriguez, in May 2022, alleging defamation, invasion of privacy, infliction of emotional distress and trespassing.
After the defendants declined to appear in court, a judge issued a default judgment against them in April 2023. A jury then ruled that they must pay $26.5 million in compensatory damages and $26 million in punitive damages.
In a YouTube video published last Friday, Bundy offered his perspective on his ongoing bankruptcy controversy with St. Luke’s Health System. He described feeling besieged by legal action and portrayed himself as a target of institutional and legal overreach.
Bundy framed his bankruptcy not as the result of financial mismanagement, but as a last resort in response to what he calls “wicked people attacking me.”
Currently, federal bankruptcy judge Judge William T. Thurman is poised to decide whether Bundy can discharge a $52 million judgment awarded to St. Luke’s Health System. This follows a heated defamation case in which Bundy was found liable for accusing the hospital and its staff of child trafficking.
As detailed in a previous Headline USA article, Bundy defiantly stated, “I owe them nothing,” following the Idaho jury’s verdict.
Bundy is no stranger to controversy. He first gained national attention during the 2014 armed standoff with federal agents in Nevada, tied to his father Cliven Bundy’s grazing disputes.
Bundy claims that St. Luke’s has aggressively litigated against him, accuses their attorneys and leadership of misconduct, and asserts that critical evidence at trial was manipulated. He maintains his actions were motivated by the desire to reunite “Baby Cyrus” with his family, disputes the assertion of malicious intent, and alleges bias and corruption in the Idaho courts.
At the conclusion of his video, Bundy appeals for public sympathy and spiritual support as he awaits a key ruling in his bankruptcy case. ‘I ask for your prayers because the judge in the bankruptcy case right now has taken the summary judgment for review, and he’s gonna be ruling on it,” concluded.
He deepened his notoriety in 2016 as the leader of the armed occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. More recently, he moved to Idaho, ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2022, and founded the People’s Rights Network—a group known for aggressively opposing government overreach.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
