A federal judge wrote to former President Donald Trump, E. Jean denied a request for a new trial in a civil suit filed by Carroll, after a jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages. Trump is liable for defamation In January.
The judge also rejected a request for damages in the case, which Trump said was “completely disproportionate” to the damage to Carroll’s reputation.
“Mr. Trump’s argument is completely without merit, both in law and fact,” U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in a statement. Page 18 of the decision Thursday.
A lawyer for Trump said he plans to appeal the decision.
“We strongly disagree with Judge Kaplan’s decision,” said Alina Haba. “This ignores long-standing constitutional principles and is a prime example of the kind of laws that are in vogue across the country. We are confident that the Second Circuit will overturn this decision.”
Trump requested a new trial in March outlining the allegations, along with the trial and pretrial rulings, including the exclusion of evidence related to Trump’s “state of mind” when he defamed Carroll.
Carol is a longtime advice columnist Wrote a story in New York magazine in 2019 Trump allegedly sexually assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.
When the report was released, President Trump denied the allegations, calling Carroll “weird” and claiming he had never met her.
He claimed in the March filing that the jury could not have reasonably concluded that Carroll suffered harm as a result of his comments because they were made five hours after the story was published. Trump’s lawyers noted that Carroll received some negative feedback “in the space of five hours.” Carroll’s attorney said she was subjected to constant taunts and threats after Trump intervened.
Trump claimed the jury’s findings were based on “confusion, speculation or bias” rather than “evidence presented at trial.”
Kaplan wrote that Trump’s argument ignores the jury’s and court’s determination that Trump’s alleged statements were “false, defamatory, and tainted in contempt of fact and common law.”
“This ignores the fact that these defamatory statements have been viewed at least 8.5 to 104 million times,” Kaplan wrote.
Graham Cates
Graham Cates is an investigative reporter for CBS News Digital, covering criminal justice, privacy issues and data protection. Contact Graham at [email protected] or [email protected]
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