NEW YORK: A federal judge ruled Wednesday that writer E. Jean Carroll, who won a recent defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, doesn’t have to prove again that he defamed her in another lawsuit she has filed against him when it goes to trial in January.
She must show only what damages, if any, Trump must pay for comments he made in 2019 after she first publicly accused him of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room decades ago. Trump called her accusation “totally false,” and said that he had never met Carroll and that he could not have raped her because “she’s not my type.”
Carroll, 79, won a separate defamation lawsuit in May based on comments Trump posted in October on his Truth Social website calling her claim a “complete con job” and “a Hoax and a lie.”
In that case, a Manhattan jury found Trump, 77, liable for sexually abusing Carroll and awarded her $2.02 million in damages for the attack. Jurors also awarded Carroll $2.98 million in damages for defamation.
The judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of U.S. District Court, said in his ruling Wednesday that Trump’s statements in 2019 were “substantially the same” as those that prompted the defamation award in May.
“The trial in this case shall be limited to the issue of damages only,” Kaplan wrote.
Lawyers for Carroll and Trump issued brief statements after the ruling was filed.
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, said: “We look forward to trial limited to damages for the original defamatory statements Donald Trump made about our client E. Jean Carroll in 2019.”
Alina Habba, who represents Trump, said she was confident the earlier verdict “will be overturned on appeal, which will render this decision moot.”
Trump has also asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay the pending defamation trial, which is scheduled for Jan. 15, until an appeal by Trump related to the case is resolved.
Carroll opposes any delay, and the appeals court has scheduled oral arguments on the issue for Tuesday.
Carroll first publicly leveled her accusation against Trump in a 2019 book excerpt in New York Magazine. She said he had pushed her up against a dressing room wall during a mid-1990s encounter in luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman. She said he had pulled down her tights, opened his pants and forced himself upon her.
If Carroll’s defamation case goes to trial in January, it would open a year in which Trump could also be tried on criminal indictments in Georgia, Florida, New York and Washington. Legal experts say that he almost certainly will have to attend the criminal trials but that he does not have to attend the civil trial.
She must show only what damages, if any, Trump must pay for comments he made in 2019 after she first publicly accused him of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room decades ago. Trump called her accusation “totally false,” and said that he had never met Carroll and that he could not have raped her because “she’s not my type.”
Carroll, 79, won a separate defamation lawsuit in May based on comments Trump posted in October on his Truth Social website calling her claim a “complete con job” and “a Hoax and a lie.”
In that case, a Manhattan jury found Trump, 77, liable for sexually abusing Carroll and awarded her $2.02 million in damages for the attack. Jurors also awarded Carroll $2.98 million in damages for defamation.
The judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of U.S. District Court, said in his ruling Wednesday that Trump’s statements in 2019 were “substantially the same” as those that prompted the defamation award in May.
“The trial in this case shall be limited to the issue of damages only,” Kaplan wrote.
Lawyers for Carroll and Trump issued brief statements after the ruling was filed.
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, said: “We look forward to trial limited to damages for the original defamatory statements Donald Trump made about our client E. Jean Carroll in 2019.”
Alina Habba, who represents Trump, said she was confident the earlier verdict “will be overturned on appeal, which will render this decision moot.”
Trump has also asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay the pending defamation trial, which is scheduled for Jan. 15, until an appeal by Trump related to the case is resolved.
Carroll opposes any delay, and the appeals court has scheduled oral arguments on the issue for Tuesday.
Carroll first publicly leveled her accusation against Trump in a 2019 book excerpt in New York Magazine. She said he had pushed her up against a dressing room wall during a mid-1990s encounter in luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman. She said he had pulled down her tights, opened his pants and forced himself upon her.
If Carroll’s defamation case goes to trial in January, it would open a year in which Trump could also be tried on criminal indictments in Georgia, Florida, New York and Washington. Legal experts say that he almost certainly will have to attend the criminal trials but that he does not have to attend the civil trial.