Judge imposes huge fines on David Daleiden and his attorneys for release of undercover Planned Parenthood videos

A federal judge has imposed a fine of nearly $200,000 on pro-life investigator David Daleiden and his attorneys after finding them in contempt of court for releasing undercover videos that were recorded at an abortion conference.

On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick ordered Daleiden and attorneys Steve Cooley and Brentford Ferreira to pay $195,359.04 to compensate the National Abortion Federation (NAF) for "expenses incurred as a result of the violation of my Preliminary Injunction Order," which had barred the release of the undercover recordings taken at NAF meetings.

"In setting this amount, I have considered the magnitude of 'the harm threatened by continued contumacy, and the probable effectiveness of any suggested sanction in bringing about the result desired,'" the judge wrote.

The large fine was less than the roughly $287,482.00 that was requested by the NAF. Orrick stated that NAF's lawyers "have not justified their requested rates in reference to fee awards in other cases or with affidavits demonstrating that the requested rates are reasonable for similarly situated attorneys in similar practice areas."

Orrick calculated the amount based on legal fees, staff time, travel expenses incurred by the NAF, as well as the "security costs paid to outside vendors" to uncover and monitor threats resulting from the release of the videos.

Daleiden and his attorneys were held in contempt in July for releasing the videos in violation of a court order. Orrick immediately ordered the videos to be taken down after they were released in May, according to Life News.

Matthew Geragos, who is representing Cooley and Ferreira, argued that the lawyers thought that they were bound by the injunction in the civil case, and that they only posted the links to the videos in order to find witnesses who could support Daleiden's defense. Geragos has expressed his plans to appeal the case.

The video footage in question showed Planned Parenthood staffers and other abortion industry leaders discussing details about their work. In one segment of the video, Lisa Harris, medical director at Planned Parenthood of Michigan, was heard telling attendees of the conference that they should concede that abortion is murder. "Let's just give them all the violence. It's a person. It's killing. Let's just give them all that," she said.

Daleiden's group, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), had filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court earlier this month to appeal the "unconstitutional gag order" preventing the release of the undercover videos.

In June, Daleiden's lawyers requested that Orrick recuse himself from the case, arguing that the judge had links to the abortion industry. The attorneys claimed that Orrick had a long relationship with an organization that partners with Planned Parenthood, and that his wife had publicly expressed her support for abortion.