Current:Home > reviewsTrump’s lawyers seek to suspend $83M defamation verdict, citing ‘strong probability’ it won’t stand -Secure Growth Solutions
Trump’s lawyers seek to suspend $83M defamation verdict, citing ‘strong probability’ it won’t stand
View
Date:2025-04-18 04:57:02
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s lawyers asked a New York judge Friday to suspend an $83.3 million defamation verdict against the former president, saying there was a “strong probability” that it would be reduced on appeal, if not eliminated.
The lawyers made the request in Manhattan federal court, where a civil jury in late January awarded the sum to advice columnist E. Jean Carroll after a five-day trial that focused only on damages. A judge had ordered the jury to accept the findings of another jury that last year concluded Trump sexually abused Carroll in 1996 and defamed her in 2022.
The second jury focused only on statements Trump made in 2019 while he was president in a case long delayed by appeals.
In the filing Friday, Trump’s lawyers wrote that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan should suspend the execution of a judgment he issued on Feb. 8 until a month after he resolves Trump’s post-trial motions, which will be filed by March 7. Otherwise, they said, he should grant a partially secured stay that would require Trump to post a bond for a fraction of the award.
The lawyers said the $65 million punitive award, atop $18.3 in compensatory damages, was “plainly excessive” because it violates the Constitution and federal common law.
“There is a strong probability that the disposition of post-trial motions will substantially reduce, if not eliminate, the amount of the judgment,” they said.
Trump did not attend a trial last May when a Manhattan jury awarded Carroll $5 million after concluding that the real estate magnate sexually attacked Carroll in spring 1996 in the dressing room of a luxury Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Plaza in midtown Manhattan.
Since Carroll, 80, first made her claims public in a memoir in 2019, Trump, 77, has repeatedly derided them as lies made to sell her book and damage him politically. He has called her a “whack job” and said that she wasn’t “his type,” a reference that Carroll testified was meant to suggest she was too ugly to rape.
Carroll also testified that she has faced death threats from Trump supporters and has had her reputation shattered after remarks Trump continued to make even as the trial was going on.
At the second trial, Trump attended regularly and briefly testified, though he did most of his communication with the jury through frequent shakes of his head and disparaging comments muttered loudly enough that a prosecutor complained that jurors surely heard them and the judge threatened to banish him from the courtroom.
Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll and no relation to the judge, declined comment Friday.
Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, said in a statement that January’s jury award was “egregiously excessive.”
“The Court must exercise its authority to prevent Ms. Carroll’s (sic) from enforcing this absurd judgment, which will not withstand appeal,” Habba said.
Since the January verdict, a state court judge in New York in a separate case has ordered Trump and his companies to pay $355 million in penalties for a yearslong scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth. With interest, he owes the state nearly $454 million.
veryGood! (5342)
Related
- Louisiana high court temporarily removes Judge Eboni Johnson Rose from Baton Rouge bench amid probe
- Bears' Douglas Coleman III released from hospital after being taken off field in ambulance
- Judge rules Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend caused her death, dismisses some charges against ex-officers
- Let’s remember these are kids: How to make the Little League World Series more fun
- FACT FOCUS: Inspector general’s Jan. 6 report misrepresented as proof of FBI setup
- Prominent civil rights lawyer represents slain US airman’s family. A look at Ben Crump’s past cases
- Competing measures to expand or limit abortion rights will appear on Nebraska’s November ballot
- Dennis Quaid doesn't think a 'Parent Trap' revival is possible without Natasha Richardson
- The seven biggest college football quarterback competitions include Michigan, Ohio State
- Colorado won't take questions from journalist who was critical of Deion Sanders
Ranking
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- Murderer's Ex-Wife Breaks Cold Case Wide Open After 35 Years in Girl on the Milk Carton Preview
- What to watch: Here's something to 'Crow' about
- Oklahoma teachers were told to use the Bible. There’s resistance from schools as students return
- Jamaica's Kishane Thompson more motivated after thrilling 100m finish against Noah Lyles
- Will Messi play before end of MLS season? Inter Miami star's injury update
- Taylor Swift makes two new endorsements on Instagram. Who is she supporting now?
- Trump-backed Alaska Republican withdraws from US House race after third-place finish in primary
Recommendation
North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
Macklemore Fan Arrested for Outstanding Warrant After She Was Invited Onstage
Rate cuts on horizon: Jerome Powell says 'time has come' to lower interest rates
The lessons we learned about friendship from 'The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat'
Golf's No. 1 Nelly Korda looking to regain her form – and her spot on the Olympic podium
Macklemore Fan Arrested for Outstanding Warrant After She Was Invited Onstage
Kansas judge throws out machine gun possession charge, cites Second Amendment
Alabama park system acquires beach property in Fort Morgam