Judge refuses to delay Trump’s $83M judgment in Carroll defamation case
by Zach Schonfeld - 03/07/24 5:50 PM ET
A federal judge on Thursday rejected former President Trump’s request to delay the $83.3 million judgment in advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit, refusing to give Trump more time to post a bond with the deadline only a few days away.
The former president and near-certain GOP nominee has mounted efforts to postpone the judgments in both Carroll’s lawsuit and the New York attorney general’s sprawling fraud prosecution, with Trump staring down hundreds of millions in penalties between the two civil cases.
Thursday’s ruling hands a loss to Trump by maintaining default rules that enable enforcement of the judgment in Carroll’s lawsuit as early as next week, effectively making it Trump’s deadline to post a bond.
“Mr. Trump’s current situation is a result of his own dilatory actions,” U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in his ruling.
A federal jury sitting in New York ordered Trump to pay the eight-figure sum for defaming Carroll by denying her story when she came forward in 2019 to accuse the then-president of sexual assault decades earlier. Last year, a separate jury had found Trump liable for sexually abusing the advice columnist.
Under standard practice, Trump’s lawyers have said Trump’s bond amount would total $91.63 million as he appeals the January verdict.
Trump in recent days has filed motions seeking a new trial in the case or to get the damages reduced. Trump had demanded Kaplan, appointed to the bench by former President Clinton, delay the judgment until 30 days after the judge rules on those motions or alternatively reduce the bond amount to $24.475 million.
Kaplan has not yet ruled on that delay request, but on Thursday, the judge denied Trump’s more recent demand for an administrative stay in the meantime to punt Saturday’s deadline.
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https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4517346-judge-refuses-to-delay-trumps-83m-judgment-in-carroll-defamation-case/
