NEW YORK: A federal judge on Thursday rejected Donald Trumpโs bid to throw out an $83.3 million defamation verdict in favour of the writer E. Jean Carroll, who said the former U.S. president defamed her after she accused him of raping her decades ago.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan denied Trumpโs requests for a new trial, or to have the former Elle magazine advice columnistโs case thrown out altogether.
He also dismissed arguments that the juryโs award to Carroll following Trumpโs โmalicious and unceasing attacksโ was too high, and that errors at the civil trial tainted the verdict. Trump is appealing the verdict, and plans to appeal Thursdayโs decision.
โWe categorically disagree with Judge Kaplanโs decision,โ his lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement. โIt ignores long-standing constitutional principles and is a prime example of the lawfare raging across this country.โ
Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, said she was not surprised by the decision, and said the $83.3 million award was โentirely reasonable.โ She is not related to the judge.
Trump is the Republican presidential candidate in the 2024 election, and also a defendant in four criminal cases, including an ongoing hush money trial.
In the January 26 verdict, jurors agreed with Carroll that Trump defamed her in June 2019 by denying that he had raped her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.
Jurors awarded Carroll $18.3 million of compensatory damages for emotional and reputational harm, plus $65 million of punitive damages.
Trumpโs lawyers argued that the judge instructed jurors improperly about the burden of proof needed to show malice, and erred in striking testimony about his state of mind. According to the lawyers, Trumpโs testimony that โI just wanted to defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidencyโ was relevant to whether he had acted maliciously, and that excluding it โall but assuredโ a big punitive damages award.
But the judge said Trumpโs attacks had been seen by more than 100 million people, and that Trump defamed Carroll with out-of-court statements even during the trial.
He also said Trump โput his hatred and disdain on full displayโ in the courtroom, including by muttering that the proceedings were a โwitch huntโ and โcon job,โ and walking out as Carrollโs lawyer made her closing argument.
โOn this exceptional record, the punitive damages evidence passes constitutional muster,โ Judge Kaplan wrote.
Last May, a different jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million over an October 2022 denial of Carrollโs accusations, finding he had defamed and sexually abused her. Trump is also appealing that verdict.
(REUTERS)