U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Verdict in E. Jean Carroll Case Against Trump
The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the rulings in a high-profile defamation and sexual abuse case filed by writer E. Jean Carroll.
“Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the appeals court stated in its opinion. “He has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”
In May 2023, a federal jury from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York awarded Carroll \$5 million in damages, including nearly \$3 million for defamation. The jury found that Trump sexually abused Carroll and then defamed her in 2022 through public statements disparaging her and denying the allegations.
Trump appealed the verdict, arguing that the district court erred in several evidentiary rulings, claiming these errors entitled him to a new trial. However, the appeals court dismissed these contentions, reinforcing the earlier decision.
Carroll, a former magazine columnist, alleged that Trump raped her in a department store in the mid-1990s and then defamed her when he publicly denied the claims. She came forward in 2019 when an excerpt of her forthcoming book was released in a magazine, bringing her allegations into the national spotlight.
In a separate development, a Manhattan federal jury in January 2024 ordered Trump to pay an additional \$83.3 million to Carroll for defamatory statements he made against her in 2019. Trump’s appeal of this later verdict is pending.
The upheld rulings mark significant milestones in the ongoing legal battles between Trump and Carroll, highlighting the judiciary’s stance on defamation and sexual abuse allegations involving high-profile figures.
Reference(s):
U.S. court denies Trump's bid to overturn E. Jean Carroll verdict
cgtn.com
