Expedited Discovery Allowed in Sheriff’s Defamation Case, Which Alleges Claims of Unwarranted ICE-Related Detention were a Hoax

From Monday’s order by Judge Brett Ludwig in Schmidt v. Naqvi (E.D. Wis.):

Plaintiff Dale Schmidt is … the elected sheriff of Dodge County, Wisconsin…. Defendant Kevin Morrison is … a prior candidate for the United States House of Representatives [and currently a Cook County, Ill. Commissioner -EV]. Schmidt is suing [Sundas] Naqvi, Morrison, and unidentified Doe Defendants for falsely claiming that Naqvi was illegally detained at Dodge County Jail from March 5, 2026 through March 7, 2026.

Schmidt maintains that Naqvi was never booked or detained at Dodge County Jail. He alleges that, in actuality, Naqvi arrived at O’Hare International Airport on March 5, 2026, checked into a Hampton Inn & Suites located in Rosemont, Illinois, and, in the early morning hours of March 7, 2026, was dropped off at a Holiday Inn Hotel in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Schmidt seeks leave from the Court to conduct limited, expedited discovery to subpoena T-Mobile, Naqvi’s cellphone provider, to produce text messages, call details, and records. He also seeks to subpoena the relevant hotels for exterior and lobby video surveillance, limited in date and times. For the reasons discussed below, Schmidt’s motion will be granted….

“A party may not seek discovery from any source before the parties have conferred as required by Rule 26(f), except … when authorized … by court order.” … Schmidt has shown sufficient good cause to support his request [for a subpoena without a Rule 26(f) conference]…. [A] prima facie claim of defamation in Wisconsin requires plausible allegations that the defendants made a false statement, communicated by speech; communicated to a third party; and the communication is unprivileged and tends to harm one’s reputation. Schmidt alleges that Naqvi and Morrison falsely publicized that Naqvi was illegally detained at Dodge County Jail, which could harm Schmidt’s reputation. Accordingly, he has made a prima facie claim of actionable harm.

Next, Schmidt seeks concrete, narrow information: Naqvi’s cellphone records and the exterior and lobby surveillance footage from the pertinent Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn, limited to relevant dates and times. The Court also notes that while there are alternative means to obtain the subpoenaed information, these methods are outweighed by the risk of the records overwritten and/or purged in the ordinary course of business, thus satisfying the third and fourth elements.

The Court also finds that the subpoenaed information will advance Schmidt’s claim. To begin with, video surveillance could prove his allegations about Naqvi’s actual whereabout during the time she claimed to be detained at Dodge County Jail. Moreover, Naqvi’s cellphone records may help Schmidt identify the unknown Doe Defendants. Doe Defendants must be identified and served within ninety days of the commencement of the action against them, and, accordingly, this information is necessary to proceed with the claims against Doe Defendants….

[And] the Court is satisfied that Schmidt’s interest in protecting himself from defamation outweighs the defendants’ privacy interest. The statements made “caused reputational harm and damages” to Schmidt, “particularly as he prepared for a re-election campaign.” The defendants’ interest is minimal; by publicizing statements about Schmidt and the alleged detention, they do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in information that could disprove their statements….

Here are more details on the allegation, from Friday’s Complaint in Schmidt v. Naqvi (E.D. Wis.); recall that these are just allegations, made “Upon information and belief” of the plaintiff, and any factfinding will be some time in the future:

On or about March 5, 2026, Defendant Naqvi alleges she arrived at O’Hare International Airport … on a flight from Istanbul, Turkey. Security footage at O’Hare shows Defendant Naqvi entering a secondary inspection area at 10:46 a.m. and leaving the secondary inspection area to a public area at 11:42 a.m.

[O]n or about March 5, 2026, Naqvi checked into the Hampton Inn & Suites located at 9480 W. Higgons Road, Rosemont, Illinois 60018. Upon information and belief, on or about March 8, 2026, at approximately 1:32 p.m. Naqvi checked out of the Hampton Inn & Suites…. [D]uring the late evening of March 6, 2026 and early morning hours of March 7, 2026, Defendant Naqvi arranged for transportation from an acquaintance from the Hampton Inn & Suites near O’Hare to Wisconsin…. On or around March 7, 2026, at approximately 5:38 a.m., Naqvi was seen at a gas station in the Slinger, Wisconsin area…. Naqvi was dropped off at a Holiday Inn Hotel in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin at approximately 6:33 a.m on March 7, 2026.

Despite the real facts described above, Naqvi publicly claimed that upon her arrival at O’Hare on March 5, 2026, she was taken into custody and detained at O’Hare[,] … publicly claimed that after being detained for 30 hours at O’Hare she was transported from O’Hare to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois[,] … [and] publicly claimed that she was transported across state lines to Wisconsin where she claimed to have been held at the Dodge County Jail. Naqvi claims Dodge County Sheriff’s Office subsequently released her from the facility on March 7, 2026.

On or about, March 8, 2026, Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, then a candidate for the United States Congress, stated during a press conference that Naqvi and five other individuals were transported from Illinois to Wisconsin by immigration agents. During this press conference Commissioner Morrison made allegations of an illegal detention of a U.S. citizen by government officials, including Sheriff Schmidt.

Commissioner Morrison made allegations of a “cover up” by the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office. For example, on March 9, 2026, upon information and belief at the direction of Naqvi, Commissioner Morrison made the following statements to WISN 12 News directed at Sheriff Schmidt: “[t]hey have been lying from the very start of this. I don’t think they want to own up to the fact that, once again, they have illegally detained American citizen without due process.”

On March 9, 2026, Commissioner Morrison further publicly reported that after Naqvi was allegedly released from the Dodge County Jail, Naqvi “walked to a nearby gas station and hitchhiked to a Holiday Inn, several miles away from the detention facility for refuge before her sister was able to get to her.”

Many of the statements made by Commissioner Morrison were also disseminated through Commissioner Morrison’s social media channels, which were widely shared:

… News reports detailing the allegations were published and disseminated throughout Wisconsin and Illinois media outlets, as well as nationally distributed news media…. In addition to the widespread news coverage, Naqvi’s and Commissioner Morrison’s allegations have similarly been published and disseminated through various social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and X….

Naqvi was never booked or detained at the Dodge County Jail. Dodge County Jail logs show no female inmates or detainees from the federal government were admitted or released during the timeframe in which these events were alleged to have occurred. The statements made by Defendants were demonstrably false statements of fact, not opinions, and are capable of being proven false….