Bloomberg By Erik Larson 1/7/2020
• Lower courts have said Trump can be sued in the state
• Ruling is in lawsuit by “Apprentice†contestant Summer Zervos
President Donald Trump won permission to ask New York’s highest court to overturn a ruling that he is not immune from state court lawsuits while in office.
The ruling Tuesday by an intermediate appeals court in Manhattan came in the case of former “Apprentice†contestant Summer Zervos, who sued Trump for defamation after he publicly denied her claims that he sexually assaulted her more than a decade ago.
Trump claimed the U.S. Constitution places him beyond the reach of state courts, but his argument was rejected by a trial judge. In March 2019, a panel of appellate judges in Manhattan backed the lower court, saying in their decision that a “president is still a person.â€
More:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-07/trump-fails-to-get-rehearing-on-claim-of-state-lawsuit-immunity