A federal court judge has ruled against a Gilbert woman who sued former Arizona State Senator Kelly Townsend for a myriad of complaints based on a myriad of conspiracies.
As previously reported by the Arizona Daily Independent, Staci Burk sued Townsend in 2022 in a rambling complaint alleging that Burk had been “held hostage, gaslit, and terrorized” in the aftermath of the 2020 General Election.
Burk sued Townsend for damages stemming from various claims including false imprisonment, assault and battery, and negligent infliction of emotional harm, all allegedly engaged in by the then-senator “under the color of law as a government official.”
Townsend’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in March 2023, which U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Fine granted on May 9. But the judge also gave Burk until July 21 to file an amended complaint that complies with federal court rules.
Then in July 2023, Burk added former U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and one-time Trump attorney Sidney Powell.
Finally, on August 22, 2024, Judge Fine ended the matter finding that granting Burk “leave to file an additional amended complaint would be unduly prejudicial to the defendants given the procedural history and record in this matter, especially to Defendant Townsend.”
“Plaintiff has had sufficient opportunity leading up to the Third Amended Complaint to file a complaint that complies with the pleading standards and applicable law for stating a federal question claim if she could do so. Plaintiff has been provided clear instructions, has been afforded multiple tries, and has been granted a more than sufficient period of time to do so,” wrote Fine.
“Plaintiff’s opposition brief demonstrates that any further amendment would be a waste of time, as she repeatedly meanders back into the same type of non-sequiturs and confusing conspiracy theories that have plagued each iteration of her complaint. She repeatedly refers to actions of unspecified “defendants,” plural, without specifying to whom she is referring. She repeatedly claims to have pleaded facts which appear nowhere in her complaints. She attributes actions to General Flynn with citations to paragraphs that refer only to Defendant Townsend (or which otherwise bear no relation to the description in her opposition brief). Plaintiff does not and cannot show facts of an agreement by General Flynn to do anything other than investigate election fraud and does not allege any actions of General Flynn that would subject him to liability.”
“The same is also true for the other named Defendants,” wrote the judge. “For these reasons and for the reasons discussed in the above sections, granting Plaintiff leave to file an additional amended complaint in this Court would be futile insofar as stating a federal claim and invoking this Court’s jurisdiction. Further, granting Plaintiff leave to file an additional amended complaint would be unduly prejudicial to the defendants given the procedural history and record in this matter, especially to Defendant Townsend.”
“Plaintiff will not be granted leave to file another amended complaint, this matter will be dismissed without prejudice, and the Clerk of Court will be directed to terminate this matter,” conclude Judge Fine.
Although Burk relentlessly utilized the court system, including the U.S. Supreme Court, she has not prevailed in any of the election cases.
Burk filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2021 as part of her allegations that persons engaged in “illegally and fraudulently manipulating the vote count to manufacture an election of Joe Biden as President of the United States.”
That petition, which was summarily denied by SCOTUS a few weeks later.
Another lawsuit was filed by Burk in federal court in 2021 against then-Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, several other lawmakers, and the Arizona Democratic Party over myriad election issues. The case was dismissed in less than a week, with a judge barring Burk from trying to bring forth the same claim in the future.
“Judge Deborah Fine rightly ruled that any investigation of the 2020 Presidential Election was under my authority as a sitting legislator,” Townsend told the Arizona Daily Independent. “As for the many inaccurate claims made against me, God knows they are false and I don’t need to dignify them with acknowledgement. However, I am saddened that the taxpayers had to foot the bill for this and I pray there will be no more waste of their money during these difficult times.”
MORE ABOUT BURK:
Dismissal Requested Of Bizarre Lawsuit Filed Against Former Senator
