Oh, it definitely does. There are several possible reasons they aren‘t asking for money:
1) P.R. They already got all the money he will ever have, so no point in asking for more. Instead get the public relations boost.
2) damages. I don’t know the laws in Georgia, but under some defamation/libel/slander statutes, and under traditional common law principles, you have to prove that there are actually damages. This could be difficult to do for two reasons: A) the statements just occurred, so it’s too soon for damages to have happened. B) they already argued in the first case that their reputations are in the mud because of Giuliani’s prior defamatory statements, so how much worse could the damage be due to these additional statements?
That said, there is a principal in common law called “defamation per se,” where it is just assumed that you are injured and you don’t have to prove it. The categories are kind of fun - category (2) is always a favorite in law school:
- Saying that someone committed a crime or immoral conduct
- Saying that someone had a contagious, infectious, or "loathsome" disease
- Saying someone engaged in sexual misconduct or was unchaste
- Saying something harmful about someone's business, trade, or profession
Item 1, and arguably 4, would apply here, but I don’t know if Georgia recognizes this theory.