A prominent election lawyer seeking to remove independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. from the New Jersey ballot under the state’s Sore Loser Law is punching back on social media after being threatened by Kennedy’s attorney, Paul Rossi.
In an email this morning, Rossi told Scott Salmon, who filed the lawsuit, that “Team Kennedy will not accept email service. You must properly serve the campaign.”
“Further, the complaint you filed is frivolous and barred by prior case law,” Rossi said. “We will seek attorney fees and will be making a referral to the New Jersey Bar.”
But Salmon was acting under an order from Mercer County Assignment Judge Robert Lougy, who authorized electronic service. Salmon emailed his lawsuit to Kennedy’s personal email address – “Don’t ask how; I have my ways”, he said – and Kennedy himself responded to Salmon.
Additionally, he said he sent a copy to the post office box listed on the petition Kennedy filed.
“It is also worth noting that Mr. Kennedy, not ‘Team Kennedy,’ is the named defendant, so your attempt to reject service on its behalf is utterly meaningless,” Salmon told Rossi. “Mr. Kennedy accepted personal jurisdiction in New Jersey when he filed his campaign documents, and as a result, any attempts to evade that jurisdiction in court will not bear any fruit.”
Salmon explained on social media that “lawyers will often ask if the other side will accept email service so you don’t have to hire a process server.”
“Depending on the client, sometimes you can accept it, sometimes not. I guess that’s what Rossi thought he was doing, because he didn’t read the order,” Salmon stated. “So he waited a week before trying this not-so-clever move, because now I can fairly presume that they’ll try to have the case dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, which is too long of a topic to tweet about. Needless to say, it’s highly, highly unlikely to work.”
Salmon added that Rossi “threw in some meaningless threats at the end.”
“He’s not following proper New Jersey process for sending a frivolous litigation notice, and even if he was, the courts have all but banned them in election cases, which he’d know if he was licensed here,” said Salmon on Twitter.
In his email, Salmon challenged Rossi to “name one New Jersey case, a single case, that bars the complaint.”
“I would love to see it, because one doesn’t exist. Since you are obviously brand new to New Jersey, I would tread carefully before making empty threats. I don’t know who you think you are scaring, but it isn’t working. I’ll see you (or at least, whichever lawyer you hire, since you are not licensed here) in court.”
Salmon filed his lawsuit last week, alleging that the New Jersey’s Sore Loser Law, which prohibits candidates from mounting an independent run after previously seeking votes for a major party nomination.
Lougy has scheduled a July 17 court hearing. Kennedy has until July 8 to file his opposition to Salmon’s motion with the court.