Judge Approves Trump’s $91 Million Bond to Delay Defamation Payment Amid Appeal
If Trump’s enchantment fails, the bond ensures cost to Ms. Carroll of the damages awarded by a jury in January.
A federal decide on Tuesday accepted the $91 million bond posted by former President Donald Trump to delay cost of a defamation judgment awarded to author E. Jean Carroll, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.
President Trump posted the supersedeas bond on March 8, looking for to pause enforcement of the judgment in opposition to him whereas awaiting the enchantment’s decision. Such a bond is required when interesting.
U.S. District Court docket Choose Lewis Kaplan granted the request to remain the execution of the judgment pending enchantment in his order on Tuesday, saying the bond was “deemed ample.”
If the enchantment fails, the bond ensures cost to Ms. Carroll of the damages awarded by a jury in January. The bond was filed a day after Choose Kaplan denied Alina Habba, one of many former president’s attorneys, permission to delay posting the bond.
The appeals bond was secured from the Virginia-based Federal Insurance coverage Firm, totaling $91,630,000 to cowl the $83 million judgment within the case plus curiosity, per a courtroom submitting.
The situations of the bond didn’t specify what belongings President Trump used to safe the bond.
On March 8, President Trump filed a discover of enchantment of the judgment with the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the Second Circuit. This required him to both pay the judgment or publish a bond for the total quantity of the judgment in an effort to proceed.
In accordance with a courtroom submitting, if the enchantment is profitable, then the bond “shall be null, void, launched, and discharged.”
Ms. Habba expressed confidence that the appeals courtroom would overturn the judgment.
“As a result of quite a few prejudicial errors made on the decrease degree, we’re extremely assured that the Second Circuit will overturn this egregious judgment,” Ms. Habba stated in an announcement.
The Epoch Occasions contacted President Trump’s attorneys for remark.
Choose Kaplan ordered President Trump to file a replica of the accepted bond with the courtroom clerk inside 5 days of his order on Tuesday, stating that enforcement of the judgment is stayed “efficient instantly” upon submitting the bond. The keep will stay in impact till the enchantment is resolved or till Choose Kaplan points an extra order.
After President Trump’s attorneys filed discover of the bond on the morning of March 8, assembly a deadline set by the decide following the rejection of a movement to delay cost, Ms. Carroll had till March 11 to file an objection.
On Substack, Ms. Carroll referred to the $91 million determine as a “stupendous quantity” and joked about her lawyer, Robbie (Roberta) Kaplan, stating that the bond spared her the difficulty of yanking a “gold rest room out of the ground at Trump Tower” and tossing it by the window.
In January, a panel of 9 jurors dominated that President Trump should pay greater than $83 million to Ms. Carroll in a defamation case she filed in 2019. This marks the primary of two lawsuits Ms. Carroll introduced in opposition to President Trump, although it was the second to go to trial.
In 2019, Ms. Carroll accused President Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room within the mid-Nineteen Nineties. He denied the accusations, prompting her to sue for defamation.
Final 12 months, Ms. Carroll filed a sexual assault case in opposition to President Trump underneath a newly enacted New York state regulation that allowed such circumstances to be introduced exterior the statute of limitations. This lawsuit included extra statements made by President Trump about Ms. Carroll, alleging that her accusations had been a publicity stunt to advertise her e book.
A jury discovered President Trump responsible for “sexual battery” and awarded Ms. Carroll $5 million. President Trump can also be interesting this case.
Choose Kaplan, overseeing each circumstances, issued a abstract judgment earlier than trial, discovering President Trump responsible for defamation as a result of similarity of information in each circumstances. This led to a comparatively transient trial in January.
President Trump maintains that he by no means knew Ms. Carroll and denies her account of their interactions on the division retailer, stating that he by no means touched her.
The Epoch Occasions contacted Ms. Carroll’s lawyer for remark.
Catherine Yang contributed to this report.