Drag performer may collect $1.1 million judgment against Post Falls blogger
Blogger Summer Bushnell testified in the defamation lawsuit brought by Post Falls resident Eric Posey.
KAYE THORNBRUGH/Press file
COEUR d’ALENE — A Post Falls resident may begin collecting a $1.1 million judgment against the blogger who defamed him, a judge ruled Wednesday.
In May, a Kootenai County jury unanimously found that Summer Bushnell defamed Eric Posey when she falsely accused him of exposing himself during Pride in the Park 2022.
Bushnell asked the court earlier this month to stay enforcement of the judgment while she appeals the case. First District Judge Ross Pittman denied Bushnell’s request Wednesday.
“It’s on you, Ms. Bushnell, to show good cause, and you have not done so here today,” Pittman said.
Bushnell, who is now representing herself, argued in court that she’s unable to pay the judgment because her household spends more money than it earns each month. She said her husband is the family’s sole breadwinner and she “occasionally receives payment for helping local political candidates with their campaigns.”
“My family and I need a roof over our heads, a vehicle and the means to continue to work from home,” she said.
Court records indicate Bushnell’s household lost tens of thousands of dollars last year in cryptocurrency investments. Legal counsel for Posey pointed to these losses as a reason why judgment should not be stayed until after the appeal process is complete.
In Idaho, a district court may not stay enforcement of a money judgment unless the party against whom the judgment is entered posts a cash deposit or a type of surety bond equal to 135% of the judgment. Bushnell has also asked the court to waive or reduce the bond to no more than $10,000.
The court denied that request, as well, determining that “simple inability to pay” is not good cause to waive the bond, nor to stay enforcement of a judgment.
Pittman said the purpose of a bond is to give security to the creditor that the debtor will be able to satisfy the judgment if the debtor does not prevail on appeal.
“Your finances don’t give any assurances,” he said to Bushnell. “In fact, I think it’s reasonable to conclude, as the plaintiffs do in this case, that your financial situation will be worse at the conclusion of an appeal and their prospects of collecting on judgment will have decreased after an appeal.”