E. Jean Carroll To File Civil Lawsuit Against Donald Trump With Help of New Law
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Writer E. Jean Carroll will file a new lawsuit against former president Donald Trump, according to a letter made public on Tuesday. Carroll, who previously sued Trump for defamation in 2019, plans to take advantage of a new law passed in New York that gives adult sexual assault victims a one-time opportunity to file civil lawsuits even if the statutes of limitations have expired.
Carroll will sue Trump for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress under the Adult Survivors Act, a law recently signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, noted they plan to officially launch the claim on Nov. 24, the start of a one-year window in which the law allows such suits to be filed.
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Kaplan also confirmed she plans to request that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the Southern District of New York try both of Carroll’s cases on Feb. 6, 2023, when the previously-filed defamation lawsuit is scheduled for trial.
Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, responded that the former president “adamantly” objected to combining both cases. “To permit plaintiff to drastically alter the scope and subject matter of this case at such time would severely prejudice defendant’s rights,” Habba wrote in a separate letter. “Plaintiff’s request must be disregarded in its entirety.”
The letters from Kaplan and Habba are dated from August, although both were only made public on Tuesday. Kaplan has requested a deposition from Trump after previously saying one would not be necessary.
In 2019, Carroll accused Trump of raping her around 1995 or 1996 in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City. She claimed Trump threw her against a wall, pulled down her tights, opened his pants, and forced himself on her. Carroll made the allegation in her 2019 book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal. A portion of What Do We Need Men For, detailing Trump’s alleged attack, was excerpted in New York Magazine shortly before the book’s publication, causing an uproar.
Trump has denied the allegations, calling Carroll a liar and commenting on her appearance. “I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type,” Trump told The Hill shortly after the New York Mag excerpt came out. “Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?”
Carroll filed suit against Trump that November, saying his statements were false and defamatory. Previously, Trump argued that he was shielded from the lawsuit by a federal law that provides immunity to government employees from defamation claims. Judge Kaplan ruled against the justice department, then led by Attorney General William P. Barr, finding that Trump had not been working in an official capacity when he denied the allegations.
“His comments concerned an alleged sexual assault that took place several decades before he took office, and the allegations have no relationship to the official business of the United States,” Judge Kaplan wrote in response.
The Justice Department appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Carroll and Trump are currently waiting for a decision to see if the case can proceed.
Following a hearing in February, Carroll told reporters, “I’ll never settle. We’re in this fight, not really for me, but for all women who have been grabbed and groped, and assaulted and raped, who were silenced.”
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