US federal judge rejects Donald Trump's appeal for new trial in E Jean Carroll case
A federal judge has rejected former US President Donald Trump's plea a new trial in the civil suit brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll.
A federal judge has rejected Donald Trump's plea a new trial in the civil suit brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll, who received $83.3 million in a verdict from a jury that found the former President guilty of defamation in January.
The judge also turned down a motion to have the case's damages struck, which Trump had described as "entirely out of proportion" given Carroll's reputational harm.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan concluded in an eighteen-page ruling on Thursday that “Mr. Trump's argument is entirely without merit both as a matter of law and as a matter of fact”, CNN reported.
Former magazine columnist Carroll alleged that she was sexually assaulted by Trump in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s, and he defamed her after denying the accusation.
In May 2023, a jury found Trump guilty of sexually abusing Carroll. Earlier this year, a jury ruled that the ex-president must pay $65 million in punitive damages and $18 million in compensatory damages for defaming Carroll.
In response, Trump pledged to challenge the decision against him by posting a $91.6 million bond.
Trump derailed Carroll's reputation and emotional well-being: Judge
Trump's legal team stated that Carroll was given excessive damages in the defamation case. However, judge Kaplan rejected that claim.
“Mr. Trump’s malicious and unceasing attacks on Ms. Carroll were disseminated to more than 100 million people,” Kaplan said in the judgement, adding that both public threats and personal attacks endangered former columnist's health and safety.
“The jury was entitled to conclude that Mr Trump derailed the career, reputation, and emotional well-being of one of America’s most successful and prominent advice columnists and authors — to which she testified repeatedly — and award her$18.3 million in compensatory damages.”
Trump has insisted that Carroll was not his "type" and that he never sexually assaulted her.
He attended some of the defamation trial in court, and the judge chastised him after he was overheard commenting during Carroll's evidence. During Carroll's attorneys' closing remarks, Trump got up and exited the courtroom.
"Mere minutes after (Carroll's) counsel began her closing argument, Mr. Trump conspicuously stood and walked out of the courtroom for no apparent reason save to evidence his disapproval," Kaplan said in his opinion, referencing that incident.
The decision in this case comes on a day when the US Supreme Court is hearing arguments challenging Trump's immunity from prosecution in connection with Special Counsel Jack Smith's case against him over his efforts to rig the 2020 presidential election.
