A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the claims from a conservative podcaster about why he missed his deadline to respond, instead ordering Joe Oltmann once again to pay for the costs of litigating his own contempt proceedings.

Earlier this summer, U.S. District Court Senior Judge William J. Martínez directed Oltmann to pay $37,000 for fleeing the courthouse in the middle of a deposition last year, and an additional $53,757 to plaintiff Eric Coomer for the proceedings that stemmed from Oltmann’s non-compliance with court orders.

Coomer, the former director of product security and strategy for voting technology supplier Dominion Voting Systems, initiated several lawsuits based on comments Oltmann made alleging he personally heard Coomer confess to rigging the 2020 election against President Donald Trump.

No evidence has confirmed that accusation. Coomer sued multiple people affiliated with Trump who publicly repeated that story. He obtained a favorable jury verdict in June against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

Another set of defendants included Oklahoma podcaster Clayton Thomas “Clay” Clark and his “Thrivetime Show.” They gave Oltmann a platform to promote his accusations against Coomer. Oltmann, who was ordered to sit for a deposition in the civil case, left the courthouse without authorization.

As a consequence, Martínez imposed a $1,000-per-day fine until Oltmann complied with the court order. Oltmann challenged the sanction, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld Martínez’s order.

On Sept. 3, Martínez ordered Oltmann to pay Coomer more than $53,000 by Sept. 15 for the costs of litigating the contempt proceedings in the trial court and on appeal. The docket indicated the court sent Martínez’s order to Oltmann in Castle Rock and also emailed it to him.

On Sept. 17, Coomer’s lawyers notified Martínez that Oltmann had not paid. They asked for a separate order confirming the final judgment and noted they had spoken with Oltmann about it over email.

Martínez asked the parties to clarify whether he had the legal authority to do so, and told Oltmann that, “should he decline to file any brief in response to the Motion, the Motion shall be deemed confessed and final judgment shall enter accordingly.”

Once again, the court mailed and emailed the order to him. Oltmann did not file anything in response.

“Instead, the Court understands that Oltmann e-mailed the Clerk’s office at 6:17 p.m. on September 22, 2025, that he received the Court’s Order ‘from spam after receiving no call or other correspondence,'” Martínez narrated in his Sept. 23 order. “He adds that he does ‘not have an attorney on this case and (has) no access to the system that notifies (him) of this.’ Moreover, Oltmann says there is ‘(n)o way’ he could respond to the Motion on time, as he is ‘currently’ ‘traveling home.’ He apparently asks the Clerk’s office for a week extension to file a response to the Motion. He insists he is ‘entitled’ to this ‘accommodation'” because Oltmann is unrepresented.

Martínez, however, was unmoved.

“Oltmann misunderstands how federal court works,” he wrote, adding that Oltmann’s attempt to “blame his spam folder” or other factors is futile.

“Relatedly, the Court highly doubts that Oltmann learned of the Court’s deadline just yesterday. The Court has gone out of its way to ensure that Oltmann is aware of its orders,” Martínez continued. “Notably, by responding to the Clerk’s office’s e-mail forwarding the Court’s Order, Oltmann has confirmed that he has been receiving the Court’s Orders.”

Martínez reiterated that Oltmann owes $53,757 to Coomer. The defendants and Coomer previously reached a settlement separately from Oltmann’s issue.

Oltmann did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The case is Coomer v. Make Your Life Epic, LLC. et al.