Appeal court upholds E. Jean Carroll’s US$83.3 million defamation judgment against Trump
Judges rejected Trump’s claim that the Supreme Court’s expansion of presidential immunity should shield him from liability
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a civil jury’s finding that US President Donald Trump must pay US$83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for his repeated social media attacks and public statements against the longtime advice columnist after she accused him of sexual assault.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s appeal of the defamation award, calling the jury’s damages awards “fair and reasonable”.
A three-judge panel, citing hundreds of death threats Carroll faced, said the case record supported the trial judge’s “determination that ‘the degree of reprehensibility’ of Mr Trump’s conduct was remarkably high, perhaps unprecedented”.
Trump had argued the damages were unreasonably excessive, particularly a US$65 million punitive damage award, and pushed for a new trial after the Supreme Court expanded presidential immunity.
But the appeals court roundly rejected those arguments, writing that Trump’s “extraordinary and unprecedented” broadsides against Carroll, 81, justified the steep award, given “the unique and egregious facts of this case”.