US President Donald Trump’s lawyer, hoping for an eventual Supreme Court victory, has asked a federal appeal court in New York to temporarily block a long-time columnist from collecting a US$83 million defamation award.
The lawyer, Justin D. Smith, told the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing on Tuesday to stay its decision supporting the award so that Trump will not have to pay writer E. Jean Carroll while he appeals to the high court.
A Manhattan jury awarded Carroll the payout in January 2024. Another jury in May 2023 awarded Carroll US$5 million after concluding Trump sexually abused her in a Manhattan luxury department store dressing room in 1996 and then defamed her after she published her account of it in 2019.
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Trump has vehemently denied sexually abusing Carroll or ever knowing her and has repeatedly accused her of making accusations against him for political purposes or to promote her memoir.
In court papers filed with the 2nd Circuit, Smith told the appeal court that Carroll’s lawyer does not oppose the request for a stay as long as Trump increases the bond posted after the verdict by US$7.4 million to cover any post-judgment interest that would accrue during a possible Supreme Court review.
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US jury finds Donald Trump liable in abuse and defamation case involving writer E. Jean Carroll
US jury finds Donald Trump liable in abuse and defamation case involving writer E. Jean Carroll
Lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who represents Carroll, declined to comment through a spokesman.