Seeking jury-awarded damages from Bundy, St. Luke’s lawsuit alleges ‘sham transaction’

St. Luke’s has filed a new lawsuit against Ammon Bundy that accuses him of hiding assets to “frustrate” collection efforts by the health care system and other plaintiffs, who won a defamation case against Bundy and other defendants.

In the 22-page complaint, which was provided to the Idaho Statesman by St. Luke’s attorneys, the plaintiffs are asking the 3rd Judicial District to void any transfers of property or assets made by Bundy and his wife, including the sale of their 5-acre 4,760-square-foot Emmett home, which St. Luke’s claims was done to avoid paying millions in damages.

In July, a 12-person jury ordered Bundy and Diego Rodriguez, his former campaign adviser and close associate, and their organizations to pay a total of $52.5 million in damages to the health care system and others, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.

Bundy — who refused to participate in the legal process and never appeared in court — previously said he has no plans to turn over any assets, money or property.

“I owe St. Luke’s nothing,” Bundy told the Statesman following the jury verdict on damages, which left him owing roughly half of the $52.5 million.

In a separate filing, St. Luke’s also asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent Bundy from trying to hinder the plaintiffs from collecting court-ordered damages. The plaintiffs are seeking an order that would prevent the defendants — including Bundy’s wife, Lisa Bundy — from making any further transfers, sales or conveyances of property they own.

The memo also asks that Bundy is prevented from transferring ownership or assets of any of his entities, including the People’s Rights Network and Bundy’s political organization.

Bundy previously said he’d sell his home because St. Luke’s was going to “take everything” from him and he was “making moves” to stop them, according to statements Bundy made online that are published within the new lawsuit.

The case stemmed from Bundy and Rodriguez-led protests at the St. Luke’s hospitals in Meridian and downtown Boise in March 2022 over a child welfare case involving Rodriguez’s 10-month-old grandchild. The lawsuit named as defendants both men, Bundy’s People’s Rights Network, Bundy’s campaign for governor, and Rodriguez’s Freedom Man website and political action committee.

“The jury trial in Ada County that ended with a $52M verdict against Mr. Bundy and the other defendants established that Mr. Bundy lied about the condition of an infant and lied about St. Luke’s and the other plaintiffs,” St. Luke’s attorney Erik Stidham said in a statement to the Statesman. “In contrast to Mr. Bundy, who was too cowardly to show up for trial, three doctors and a nurse practitioner testified under oath that the infant could have died if he had not been taken into protective care.”

Ammon Bundy responds to St. Luke’s lawsuit seeking damages, says he sold Emmett home

St. Luke’s accuses Bundy of ‘sham transaction’

In December, about seven months after the defamation lawsuit was filed, the Bundys sold the Emmett property to White Barn Enterprises, which is controlled by Aaron Welling, a former gubernatorial campaign treasurer for Bundy and his longtime friend, according to the St. Luke’s filings and previous Statesman reporting.

The health care system in its memo called the sale a “sham transaction” and said Bundy made public statements after selling his home that he did so in order to hide his assets.

The roughly $1 million home’s title was transferred to Welling on Dec. 5, and in exchange Welling paid the Bundys $250,000, which was later reimbursed through a bank loan, according to the memo. The Bundys — who still live on the property — then entered into a “very favorable lease agreement” and are paying minimal rent, the memo said.

St. Luke’s said Bundy’s public statements acknowledged that he “disposed of assets, including selling his home, to protect his assets,” and the legal filings called the home transaction a “casebook example” of a fraudulent transfer.

“I ended up selling my home. And I sold, you know, my other properties cuz’ I had to you know. They were going to take ... their whole design is to take everything from me,” Bundy said in February, according to the new lawsuit.

Stidham told the Statesman that Bundy “owes for the damages caused by his lies and his grift for money and publicity. Now, Mr. Bundy is acting to hinder collection on the judgment. In fact, Mr. Bundy has been making statements in videos that he will call in his supporters to thwart collection of the judgment against him.

“Without shame, Mr. Bundy is recruiting his followers to be his protection in a stand-off to preserve the monies he has made off his grifts, which primarily targeted the same followers he now implores to protect him from accountability — a grifter standoff using those he grifted as human shields.”