Ammon Bundy and Associates Ordered to Pay $52.5M for Defaming St. Luke's Hospital

Anti-government agitator Ammon Bundy and his associate, Diego Rodriguez, have been ordered to pay over $50 million in damages to St. Luke's Meridian Hospital in Idaho for defaming the hospital and organizing protests against it. The defamation suit was filed after Bundy claimed that the hospital had "medically kidnapped" a malnourished child, leading to a week-long protest. The jury awarded $26.5 million in compensatory damages and nearly $26 million in punitive damages. Bundy and Rodriguez, known for their far-right activism, did not participate in the trial. The hospital argued that their actions endangered staff and patients, disrupted operations, and led to harassment and death threats.