Judge Slaps David Daleiden's Legal Team with Contempt of Court

The legal team representing pro-life investigator, David Daleiden, has been found to be in contempt of court for releasing undercover videos that exposed Planned Parenthood workers admitting to harvesting and selling baby body parts. 

National Abortion Federation (NAF) is an industry trade group associated with Planned Parenthood.

They have dragged Daleiden and his lawyers into court for the release of videos related to the organization's conferences. 

Judge William Orrick could issue an order to force Daleiden's team to pay monetary damages to the abortion group. 

The organization is seeking monetary damages, including reimbursement for time spent by their employees in search of "hostile" and "negative" internet comments directed at the abortion provider. 

"Derek Foran, lead attorney for NAF, said that the videos were released with the hashtag #PlannedParenthoodSellsBabyBodyParts. He called this a 'horrendous term'. I agree. The business of tearing babies apart and profiting from the sale of their parts is horrendous," said Life Legal Defense Foundation Executive Director Alexandra Snyder. 

NAF also asked that Life Legal be forced to give them the funds that were raised for Daleiden's legal defense team. 

Although the hearing was about Daleiden's role in releasing the videos, Orrick questioned the entire defense team. 

They invoked their attorney-client privilege, which stops attorneys from sharing confidential communication between themselves and their clients. 

However, it did not stop the judge from finding Daleiden's lawyers in contempt of his 2016 order prohibiting the release of videos related to NAF conferences.

"The National Abortion Federation did not present sufficient evidence that David was involved in the release of the enjoined videos," Snyder said.

The judge did deny NAF's request to receive Life Legal donations.