Nick wanted the case dismissed.
The case now goes to discovery. Nick, after referring to discovery as the most expensive part of the case, now has convinced himself that there will be minimal to no discovery.
This is almost certainly not the case. At the very least, Rekieta himself can be expected to be deposed.
This could be fun because although I'm not sure, I believe that either party can decide to make a deposition public, though this probably depends on jurisdiction and the content of the deposition. I haven't looked up whether this is allowed in Minnesota, but Rekieta himself covered a bunch of the depositions in the Vic case, and I've seen a lot of other depositions in other cases being made public.
After discovery, then it goes on to trial. The district judge in her opinion basically said that the defamation case is already strong enough to proceed to trial, and it's only the IIED claims which are likely to fail at the summary judgment stage after discovery.