The Volokh Conspiracy
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Jean Carroll's Libel Lawsuit Against Donald Trump for His 2019 Statements Can Go Forward
From Judge Lewis Kaplan's opinion today in Carroll v. Trump (S.D.N.Y.):
This is a defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll against President Donald Trump, as he then was, for statements Mr. Trump made in June 2019 shortly after Ms. Carroll publicly accused him of sexual assault. In those statements, Mr. Trump denied Ms. Carroll's accusation, stated that he "has no idea who this woman is," and suggested that she fabricated her accusation for ulterior and improper purposes, including to increase sales of her then-forthcoming book in which she discusses having been sexually assaulted by Mr. Trump and other men.
In a second and very closely related case ("Carroll II"), Ms. Carroll sued Mr. Trump for the alleged sexual assault itself and for defamation based on a statement that Mr. Trump published on his social media platform in October 2022 that was substantially similar to his June 2019 statements. That case was tried in April and May 2023. The jury unanimously found that Mr. Trump had sexually abused Ms. Carroll and defamed her in his October 2022 statement. It awarded Ms. Carroll a total of $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages: $2.02 million for her sexual assault claim, and $2.98 million for her defamation claim.
In this case ("Carroll I"), Ms. Carroll seeks damages and other relief for defamation for Mr. Trump's June 2019 statements only. The matter now is before me on Mr. Trump's motion for summary judgment dismissing the action on four grounds:
- Trump is entitled to absolute presidential immunity
- Trump's statements were not defamatory per se and Ms. Carroll cannot establish special damages
- the majority of Trump's statements were nonactionable opinion
- Carroll consented to Mr. Trump's allegedly defamatory statements. He argues also that punitive damages in any case would be unwarranted on Ms. Carroll's defamation claim.
His arguments are without merit….
Roberta Kaplan, Michael Ferrara, Shawn Crowley, Trevor W. Morrison, Matthew J. Craig, and Joshua Matz (all of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP) represent Carroll.