"You know they don't have to come up with the judgement if it's appealed"
Actually in a civil court I believe the full amount of the judgement or a bond equal to the judgement amount is required prior to appeal. The money is held by the court.
Interesting is whether any evidence submitted by Cummings was 'preserved' by IPIX attorneys for the purpose of possible appeal. If there was no objection from the defendant when the plaintiff submitted evidence to the court then the defendant cannot later appeal the evidence and request for appeal likely to be denied. This why there are repeated objections when permission to have evidence submitted to the court is requested. It's simply the defendant 'preserving' the evidence for later challenge.
Not a lawyer.
Freedom of speech is not the right to say something anywhere you want, but the right to say it somewhere.