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Former President Donald Trump and E. Jean Carroll
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A federal judge on Thursday upheld the verdict and sentence in E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, denying Trump's request for a new trial.
Judge Lewis Kaplan said in a written opinion that Trump's legal claims are without merit. The judge also found that the punitive damages awarded to Carroll by the jury “passed constitutional parity.”
Carol's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement that her legal team was “not surprised, but gratified, by the court's decision.”
“As the court explained, given Donald Trump's continued defamation of Carroll during the trial and his 'hatred and hateful' conduct in court, it is difficult to believe that “It was perfectly reasonable to award Jean Carroll $83 million in damages,” Kaplan said. “The contempt was on full display.”
Carroll, a former magazine columnist, claimed that President Trump raped her at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s and that he subsequently defamed her by denying her allegations. In another case, a jury last year found Trump liable for sexual assault.
The second lawsuit stems from President Trump's comments in 2019 denying Carroll's claims. He was found liable for defamation last year, and a jury awarded him $83.3 million in punitive and compensatory damages earlier this year.
Trump's lawyers had argued that the damages awarded to Carroll in the defamation suit were excessive. Kaplan rejected that argument in a written opinion released Thursday.
“President Trump's vicious and unrelenting attacks on Ms. Carroll have spread to over 100 million people,” Kaplan wrote. “These included public threats and personal attacks, which put Ms. Carol’s health and safety at risk.”
Kaplan added, “The jury is entitled to conclude that Mr. Trump has derailed the career, reputation, and mental well-being of one of America's most successful and prominent advice columnists and authors.”
President Trump has denied sexually assaulting Carroll and said in 2019 that she was not his “type.” These denials formed the basis of the defamation suit.
He sat in court for part of the defamation trial and was reprimanded by the judge for comments he made during Carroll's testimony. While Carroll's lawyer was making closing arguments, Trump suddenly and dramatically stood up and left the courtroom.
Kaplan referenced the episode in his opinion, saying, “Just minutes after[Carroll's]lawyers began their closing arguments, Trump made a conspicuous appearance for no apparent reason other than to show his disapproval. He stood up and walked out of the courtroom.”
Apart from the eye-watering sum, the judgment made another point clear. It would have held President Trump accountable by a jury of ordinary citizens, rather than the politicians and his appointees who regularly claim Trump has mistreated them.
The verdict comes after Trump was found in another courtroom, this time in criminal court, by a different jury of regular New Yorkers on charges that he falsified business records to cover up an extramarital affair ahead of the 2016 election. A decision is made while waiting to decide one's fate.
This article has been updated with additional reporting.
