‘Baseless smear campaign’: St. Luke’s lawsuit details allegations against Bundy, others
St. Luke’s Health System filed a court complaint Wednesday against independent gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy, his campaign and some of his associates. Details of the lawsuit allege that Bundy and Diego Rodriguez, a campaign adviser, engaged in a coordinated effort to mislead their followers about the circumstances of a child welfare case, and that part of their efforts were to raise money and gain a bigger political following.
Calling the defendants’ actions a “knowingly dishonest and baseless smear campaign,” the suit stems from a series of protests and other actions in March while a child custody proceeding was ongoing. The matter involved Rodriguez’s grandchild, and the protests at one point cause the Boise hospital to go on lockdown.
The allegations from Bundy and other right-wing activists included that the “judiciary, the police, primary care providers, and the St. Luke’s Parties engaged in widespread kidnapping, trafficking, and killing of Idaho children,” according to the complaint. The hospital and others have vehemently denied such claims.
The claims in the St. Luke’s lawsuit include defamation, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, trespassing, unfair business practices and a violation of the Charitable Solicitation Act.
Rodriguez and others held daily protests in mid-March outside of St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center while his grandson was in the custody of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Authorities said they took action because the 10-month-old’s weight-loss issues were potentially life-threatening; the family has denied that was the case.
Bundy involved himself in the protests and helped organize them. The lawsuit claims that Bundy and his campaign improperly used the welfare case to raise funds and promote his political reputation.
“Defendants’ prestige, political influence, personal brands, and revenue all depend on Defendants’ ability to market themselves as leaders in the fight against governmental overreach,” the complaint says.
Rodriguez and Bundy did not respond to requests for comment.
After law enforcement first took custody of the child, Bundy and some of his followers arrived at St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center. According to the complaint, the group blocked emergency access to the ambulance bay and refused to leave. The group also “yelled and cursed” at hospital staff, and Bundy “demanded” that a staff member give him the child, St Luke’s says.
Bundy was arrested for trespassing shortly thereafter.
Allegations of coordination for profit
The hospital accuses Bundy and Rodriguez of using the events as a means to gain financial benefit and help their reputation. The St. Luke’s complaint states that both men, who have had political aspirations, tried to “mislead and manipulate” followers and garner contributions to Bundy’s campaign, the People’s Rights Network and a charity benefiting the Rodriguez family.
A link to the fundraiser shows that nearly $115,000 was raised on behalf of the child’s parents, which the hospital alleges violated Idaho law because the funds were raised based on a false narrative.
The lawsuit also alleges that Rodriguez has received money from Bundy’s campaign through a Rodriguez business entity, called Power Marketing.
Last year, Rodriguez donated $5,000 to Bundy’s campaign, with $140 in cash contributions and $4,860 in in-kind donations, according to campaign finance records. The $5,000 is the maximum a donor can contribute during the primary.
Before switching to run as an independent, Bundy was a candidate for the Republican nomination.
Allegations of spreading a ‘governmental conspiracy’
Rodriguez’s grandson was transported to St. Luke’s Meridian late at night on March 11, after police took custody of the child. The baby was then transported to the health system’s Boise hospital, where he remained for several days, according to the complaint.
In posts on a website called Freedom Man — which is also named in the suit — pictures of the boy after he was released from the hospital are shown, along with one image of his hands with the caption: “Levi and Marissa were promised no vaccines would be given, nor would any medical procedure be performed without their express permission. Yet we see 4 jabs.”
Marissa Anderson, 21, is the boy’s mother.
In the complaint, the hospital says it did not vaccinate the infant against the parents’ wishes, or “abuse” or “harm (him) in irreparable ways.”
The hospital called the child trafficking allegations a “falsely manufactured governmental conspiracy,” which Bundy and his group used to “incite” their followers by falsely insinuating that children would be hurt or killed if they did not do something quickly.
As a result of the negative publicity and organized protests, the hospital and some of its employees received “death threats, business interruption, trespass, reputational damage, menacing crowds, and potentially mob violence,” according to the complaint.
In a petition for a protective order, a St. Luke’s attorney argued that the defendants will “persist and likely escalate their wrongful conduct” after the lawsuit’s filing, and asked the court to prohibit “harassment, intimidation, or threats” toward St. Luke’s, witnesses or other individuals “related to the controversy.”
The attorney also argued that behavior such as what the defendants have exhibited in the past would constitute witness intimidation.
In a declaration by a pediatric physician also filed with the court on Wednesday, the doctor wrote that she had been falsely accused online by the Freedom Man website of kidnapping the baby. She was working the night the state took custody of the baby and cared for the child at the Boise hospital, St. Luke’s said.
Another declaration by the hospital’s president and CEO said he was falsely accused by the same website of being an accessory to criminal abduction.
Allegations that family ‘failed’ to help with care
In prior interviews with the Statesman, the baby’s relatives said the state had taken custody of the child after a single missed doctor’s appointment.
But the court documents filed by St. Luke’s tell a different story.
The family said the boy’s mother canceled a morning appointment on March 11 with a pediatrician not associated with St. Luke’s because she wasn’t feeling well. In a timeline posted on the Freedom Man website, the parents missed calls that day from the doctor and authorities. Late that night, the family was pulled over by police at a gas station in Garden City, and law enforcement took custody of the child.
In the St. Luke’s filings, the health system says the child was at the hospital in early March and the parents “repeatedly sought to take the Infant home early despite the risk to the Infant.” Several days later, the parents did not return phone calls asking to arrange visits at the child’s home, according to court documents.
On March 11, after the family missed the pediatrician appointment, a worker at Health and Welfare contacted a nurse at St. Luke’s Children at Risk Evaluation Services. The nurse said the child could be brought to St. Luke’s for evaluation that same day. Though the child’s father said they would bring the baby in for evaluation, that did not happen, according to the complaint.
The family asserted publicly that the child had a “100% clean bill of health,” according to the complaint, but St. Luke’s says that’s not the case. The baby’s parents “had failed to follow several steps needed to ensure the Infant was receiving needed medical care and failed to respond to those properly seeking information regarding the health of the Infant,” the complaint states.
The St. Luke’s lawsuit asks for a jury trial and $50,000 in damages, and a requirement that the defendants remove the relevant statements made about the hospital from the internet.
