The St. Luke’s defamation case against far-right activist Ammon Bundy and associate Diego Rodriguez — both consistent no-shows — inched forward Tuesday, with a judge issuing new decisions at a pretrial conference hearing but leaving some questions open.

St. Luke’s filed its lawsuit in May 2022 after Bundy and Rodriguez led protests at the Boise hospital over a child welfare case involving Rodriguez’s grandchild, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. The lawsuit names as defendants those two men, Bundy’s People’s Rights Network, and other business entities affiliated with them.

Rodriguez’s penchant for filing late court documents became a central issue Tuesday. Fourth District Judge Lynn Norton asked whether Rodriguez or anyone representing him was in court, and was met with silence.

Rodriguez filed a request to appear remotely at 11:04 p.m. on Monday and took to Telegram to express his frustration that it wasn’t accepted. Norton denied the request in court, pointing out that her pretrial order already stipulated that all parties must appear in person at the hearing.

St. Luke’s attorney Erik Stidham noted that requests to appear remotely must be made three days in advance.

Another last-minute filing involved a warrant for Rodriguez that Norton issued initially on May 23 for contempt of court after he failed to attend hearings and comply with discovery requests.

However, Rodriguez filed a request to move his case to federal court that same day at an unknown time. The judge noted in court documents that she did not receive that information until after her order. She rescinded it to avoid a conflict with the federal court.

However, Norton reissued the contempt warrant Tuesday, with a $25,000 bond, after a federal court ruled Rodriguez’s request to be “moot,” keeping the case in state court.

Bundy also tried to get the case moved to federal court, but that was denied.

Some trial issues remain unresolved

With a trial date set for July 10 in the case, Norton said in court that she would issue sanctions against the defendants for their failure to appear at depositions, but she had not decided the amounts.

The judge also did not decide whether she or a jury would decide damages at trial.

She has not yet found Rodriguez — who has participated in the case to a small degree — in default. She issued a default judgment against Bundy in April, meaning he had essentially forfeited the case by failing to participate at all in the litigation.

“My responsibility is that they’ve had every opportunity to remedy the issue,” Norton said.

St. Luke’s made a motion requesting that any evidence from the defendants be excluded from trial because of their lack of compliance with discovery requests. Discovery is “the formal process of exchanging information between the parties about the witnesses and evidence they will present at trial,” according to the American Bar Association.

Stidham said this type of motion is not unusual.

“That’s just something that exists in the law to take away any advantage that somebody gains by not complying with discovery,” Stidham told the Idaho Statesman.

The trial is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, July 10, at the Ada County Courthouse.