Judge denies Trump request to pause rape defamation lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll pending appeal

Carroll alleged in a July 2019 article that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1995 or 1996.

The DOJ has argued that it should be the sole defendant because Trump was acting as a government employee when he claimed that Carroll was lying and motivated by money.

The DOJ’s request, if it prevailed, would effectively kill Carroll’s lawsuit because the government would not waive its sovereign immunity protection from being sued.

Kaplan flatly rejected the DOJ’s argument in his ruling in October.

“The President of the United States is not an employee of the Government within the meaning of the relevant statutes,” Kaplan wrote in his decision then.

“Even if he were such an employee, President Trump’s allegedly defamatory statements concerning Ms. Carroll would not have been within the scope of his employment,” the judge wrote.

However, since Kaplan’s ruling in October, there had not been any substantial hearings, depositions or filings in the case, other than the bid by Trump’s lawyer to formally stay the proceedings and Carroll’s opposition to that request.

Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, asked about the judge’s decision Wednesday denying a stay in the case, said in an email, “We are reviewing Judge Kaplan’s order.”

Trump’s lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Kaplan’s order, which itself might become the subject of an appeal.

The appeal of Kaplan’s original decision to deny the DOJ’s request to replace Trump as a defendant is continuing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in Manhattan.

Oral arguments in the appeal are scheduled for Nov. 29.

“We’re looking forward to oral argument,” Carroll’s lawyer Kaplan told CNBC.

Carroll wrote Elle magazine’s “Ask E. Jean” advice column for more than a quarter-century before the magazine fired her in early 2020.

Her past writing for NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” garnered her an Emmy nomination, and she is the author of a book about gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, as well as a book that included her claim about Trump, “What Do We Need Men For: A Modest Proposal.”

In addition to Carroll, multiple other women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. He has denied all such claims.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/15/judge-denies-trump-bid-to-pause-rape-defame-case-by-e-jean-carroll.html