Trump fails to overturn E. Jean Carroll’s US$83M verdict

E. Jean Carroll exits the New York Federal Court after Donald Trump appeared in court, Sept. 6, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)

NEW YORK -- A federal appeals court on Monday refused to throw out an $83.3-million jury verdict against U.S. President Donald Trump for damaging the reputation of the writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019 when he denied her rape claim.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan rejected Trump’s argument that the January 2024 verdict should be overturned because he deserved presidential immunity from Carroll’s lawsuit.

“The jury’s duly rendered damages awards were reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts of this case,” a three-judge panel wrote in a unanimous opinion.

Neither the White House nor Trump’s personal lawyers in the case immediately responded to requests for comment. The 2nd Circuit on June 13 upheld Carroll’s separate $5-million jury verdict against Trump in May 2023 for a similar defamation and for sexual assault.

Carroll, 81, a former Elle magazine columnist, accused Trump of attacking her around 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room.

Trump first denied her claim in June 2019, telling a reporter that Carroll was “not my type” and had concocted the story to sell her memoir “What Do We Need Men For?”

He essentially repeated his comments in an October 2022 Truth Social post, leading to the $5-million verdict, though the jury did not find that Trump had raped Carroll.

The $83.3-million award comprised $18.3 million of damages for emotional and reputational harm, and $65 million of punitive damages.

In his latest appeal, Trump argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 2024 decision providing him with substantial criminal immunity shielded him from liability in Carroll’s civil case.

He also said he had spoken about Carroll in 2019 in his capacity as president, and that failing to give him immunity could undermine the independence of the executive branch.

Trump also said U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw both trials, had made other mistakes, including by striking out his testimony that, in speaking about Carroll, “I just wanted to defend myself, my family, and frankly the presidency.”

In June, Carroll released another memoir, “Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President,” about her legal battles against Trump.

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; additional reporting and writing by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Kevin Liffey)