Topline
A federal appeals court upheld a $5 million civil verdict Monday that found President-elect Donald Trump liable for defaming and sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll, rejecting his request for a new trial less than a month before he retakes office.
A court previously found Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll. (Photo ... [+]
Key Facts
The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said Trump’s appeal failed to demonstrate the district court erred in its ruling and his appeal does not entitle him to a new trial.
Trump’s lawyers argued in their appeal the district court accepted “inflammatory” evidence that should not have been admitted, including the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged “when you’re a star,” “you can do anything,” including grabbing women “by the pussy.”
Trump’s lawyers also contested the court allowing testimony from two other women—businesswoman Jessica Leeds, who testified Trump groped her on an airplane in the 1970s, and writer Natasha Stoynoff, who alleged Trump forcibly kissed her at his Mar-a-Lago residence in 2005.
The appeal was rejected by a panel of three judges, all of whom were appointed by either former President Barack Obama or President Joe Biden.
A jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and later defaming E. Jean Carroll in a May 2023 decision, ordering Trump to pay $5 million in damages—roughly $2 million for sexual abuse and another $3 million for defamation.
Trump is also contesting a separate $83.3 million jury verdict that found him liable for defaming Carroll, focused on a different set of statements by Trump.
Crucial Quote
“Both E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today’s decision,” Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, told Forbes. “We thank the Second Circuit for its careful consideration of the parties’ arguments.”
Key Background
Carroll, a writer who helmed an advice column for Elle magazine for decades, accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a 2019 article for New York magazine. She said Trump attacked her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in late 1995 or early 1996, which Trump said “never happened,” adding Carroll is “not my type.” Carroll sued Trump in 2022 after the passage of the Adult Survivors Act, legislation that allowed alleged sexual assault victims to file lawsuits for incidents that would have otherwise exceeded the statute of limitations. The case went to trial the following April, and a nine-person jury consisting of six men and three women found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The jury did not find, however, that Carroll was raped. Trump slammed the verdict in an all-caps post on Truth Social, stating he has “absolutely no idea who this woman is” and calling himself a victim of the “greatest witch hunt of all time.”
Tangent
Monday’s appeal concerned Carroll’s second lawsuit filed against Trump, but she previously sued him in 2019 for defamation before she was able to sue for sexual assault under the Adult Survivors Act. The first suit concerned Trump’s repeated attacks against Carroll after she published her New York magazine column, alleging Trump made a “series of false and defamatory statements” in which he “defamed my character, accused me of lying for personal gain, even insulted my appearance.” A federal judge found Trump liable in the defamation suit in 2023, and a jury decided in January, after less than three hours of deliberation, that Trump owed $83.3 million in damages. Three days before the March deadline loomed for Trump to pay Carroll, he filed an appeal and posted a $91.6 million bond to avoid paying her while he pursues the appeal. Trump also filed a countersuit alleging Carroll defamed him in 2023, though a judge dismissed the suit.
Further Reading
Trump Arrives In Court For Appeal Hearing In First E. Jean Carroll Case (Forbes)
