US judge upholds Trump's $83.3 million defamation loss, rejects new
trial
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 [April 26, 2024]
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal judge on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's
bid to throw out an $83.3 million defamation verdict in favor 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 Trump's requests
for a new trial, or to have the former Elle magazine advice columnist's
case thrown out altogether.
He also dismissed arguments that the jury's award to Carroll following
Trump's "malicious and unceasing attacks" was too high, and that errors
at the civil trial tainted the verdict.
Trump is appealing the verdict, and plans to appeal Thursday's decision.
"We categorically disagree with Judge Kaplan's decision," his lawyer
Alina Habba said in a statement. "It ignores long-standing
constitutional principles and is a prime example of the lawfare raging
across this country."
Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, said she was not surprised by the
decision, and said the $83.3 million award was "entirely reasonable."
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 Jan. 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.
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom at
Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, U.S., on Thursday, April 25,
2024. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as
part of an alleged scheme to silence claims of extramarital sexual
encounters during his 2016 presidential campaign. Jeenah Moon/Pool
via REUTERS
Trump's 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, Trump's testimony that "I just wanted to
defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidency" was relevant
to whether he had acted maliciously, and that excluding it "all but
assured" a big punitive damages award.
But the judge said Trump's 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 "put his hatred and disdain on full display" in
the courtroom, including by muttering that the proceedings were a
"witch hunt" and "con job," and walking out as Carroll's lawyer made
her closing argument.
"On this exceptional record, the punitive damages evidence passes
constitutional muster," Judge Kaplan wrote.
Last May, a different jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million
over an October 2022 denial of Carroll's accusations, finding he had
defamed and sexually abused her. Trump is also appealing that
verdict.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan
Oatis)
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