Judge: Trump delays on rape accuser's claims in 'bad faith'
Former President Donald Trump’s legal moves aimed at delaying a rape accuser’s defamation claims from reaching trial are in bad faith and, so far, succeeding, a judge said in a decision released Friday as he rejected an attempt by Trump to countersue. E. Jean Carroll's single claim of defamation “could have been tried and decided — one way or the other — long ago," U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said. In a written ruling dated Thursday but publicly filed Friday, Kaplan cited delays caused by Trump's legal tactics as he rejected the former president's attempt to countersue Carroll under a law sometimes used to challenge defamation lawsuits that unfairly make claims.
news.yahoo.comDonald Trump's DNA, not deposition sought in defamation suit
A lawyer for a woman who accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s and then filed a defamation lawsuit against him said Tuesday she will not seek to depose Trump prior to trial because it would cause unnecessary delay, but she added that a DNA sample was still being sought. Attorney Roberta Kaplan first made the revelation in Manhattan federal court during a pretrial hearing before explaining the decision to reporters outside court as her client, E. Jean Carroll, stood by her side. A deposition, Kaplan said, would “inevitably result in an inordinate amount of delay.”
news.yahoo.comTime’s Up chair resigns after reportedly aiding Cuomo effort to discredit accuser
Roberta Kaplan resigned Monday as chair of Time’s Up, an organization established to fight workplace sexual misconduct, after an investigation found she was involved in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's effort to discredit a woman who accused him of sexual harassment, according to the New York Times.Why it matters: The report from investigators appointed by the New York attorney general found that Kaplan reviewed a draft of a letter that "denied the legitimacy of [ex-Cuomo aide Lindsey] Boylan's alle
news.yahoo.comTime's Up leader resigns after criticism about Cuomo ties
Time’s Up leader Roberta Kaplan resigned Monday over fallout from her work advising Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration when the first allegations of sexual harassment were made against him last year. Kaplan cited her work counseling the administration last winter and her more recent legal work representing Melissa DeRosa, a top aide to Cuomo who resigned Sunday, nearly a week after a report by the state attorney general concluded that the governor had sexually harassed 11 women. “I therefore have reluctantly come to the conclusion that an active law practice is no longer compatible with serving on the Board at Time’s Up at this time and I hereby resign,” Kaplan wrote in her resignation letter, according to The New York Times.
news.yahoo.com#MeToo Group Co-Founders Helped Cuomo Draft Letter Attacking Accuser: AG Report
Two of the co-founders of Time’s Up, an anti-harassment group created in response to the #MeToo Movement, helped New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s office draft a letter to discredit a woman who accused him of sexual assault, according to a report by the state attorney general.
news.yahoo.comFed lawyers: Trump not liable for 'crude' remarks at accuser
Donald Trump cannot be held personally liable for “crude" and “disrespectful” remarks he made while president about a woman who accused him of rape, Justice Department lawyers said Monday in arguing for him to be replaced by the United States as defendant in a defamation lawsuit. The lawyers told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that responding to allegations of misconduct falls within activities that form part of any president’s office. Trump was acting “within the scope of his office" in denying wrongdoing after White House reporters asked him about claims by columnist E. Jean Carroll in a June 2019 book that he attacked her in the mid-1990s at an upscale Manhattan department store, the lawyers from the Washington office of the Justice Department wrote.
news.yahoo.comTrump rape accuser 'stunned' at DOJ no-show at court hearing
E. Jean Carroll, who says President Donald Trump raped her in the 1990s, leaves the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse following a hearing in her defamation lawsuit against Trump, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in New York. “I’m stunned, stunned, and actually speechless, which is unusual,” Carroll told reporters outside the courthouse. A request for comment to the Justice Department wasn't immediately returned. Justice Department attorneys have said Trump had to respond in June 2019 to accusations Carroll made against him in a book because the claims related to his fitness for office. The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.
Trump niece files suit saying family cheated her of millions
FILE - This Sept. 23, 2020, file photo shows President Donald Trump speaking during a news conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, in Washington. At a briefing, White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany denied any fraud was committed against Mary Trump. Mary Trump and her brother, Fred Trump III, inherited various real estate business interests when her father, Fred Trump Jr., died in 1981 at 42 after a struggle with alcoholism. It said the action amounted to “unfathomable cruelty” because Fred Trump III's third child, born hours after Fred Trump Sr.'s funeral, was having seizures and required extensive medical care including months in a neonatal intensive care unit. In keeping with a confidentiality clause in a settlement of the dispute over Fred Trump Sr.'s will, lawyers for Mary Trump refused to say how much she received.
US asks to defend Trump in rape accuser's defamation lawsuit
That means the federal government, rather than Trump himself, might have to pay damages if any are awarded. She says his comments including that she was totally lying to sell a memoir besmirched her character and harmed her career. Carroll, meanwhile, said the developments illustrated that Trump will do everything possible, including using the full powers of the federal government, to try to stop the case. It will be up to a federal judge to decide whether to keep the case in federal court and to allow the U.S. to become the defendant. The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.
Trump tax ruling a new front in defamation suits against him
That has quickly become a question in two closely watched defamation lawsuits filed by women who say President Donald Trump smeared them while denying their sexual assault allegations. Lawyers for the women, E. Jean Carroll and Summer Zervos, are now trying to persuade New York courts that the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling strengthens their arguments for letting the suits go forward. The Supreme Court has now spoken, Carroll lawyer Roberta Kaplan wrote to the judge in her defamation case last week. Past Supreme Court cases established that presidents are subject to federal criminal subpoenas and to federal civil suits regarding private behavior. The court generally views criminal cases as more compelling matters than civil suits, said Albany Law School professor Vincent Bonventre, who maintains a blog on the Supreme Court.
Trump loses bid to dismiss rape accuser's defamation lawsuit in New York
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A longtime Elle magazine advice columnist may proceed with her lawsuit accusing U.S. President Donald Trump of defamation for denying he raped her approximately 24 years ago in a Manhattan department store, a New York state judge has ruled. U.S. President Donald Trump gestures to the news media before boarding Marine One to depart for travel to Ohio from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 9, 2020. They had said Trump made his alleged defamatory statements in Washington, D.C., his home since becoming president in January 2017, and therefore could not be sued in New York. Trump has denied accusations by more than a dozen women that he made unwanted sexual advances toward them before entering politics. One of those women, Summer Zervos, a former contestant on Trumps reality television show The Apprentice, is also suing him for defamation.
feeds.reuters.comU.S. judge rebukes Epstein estate for keeping accusers in the dark about settlement
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday rebuked Jeffrey Epsteins estate for keeping the late financiers alleged victims in the dark about a fund that would compensate them for claims of sexual abuse. FILE PHOTO: U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via REUTERSThe estate, facing at least 14 lawsuits from women, has proposed creating a fund to resolve the allegations out of court. Epstein, 66, hanged himself in a Manhattan jail in August while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The prince stepped down from public duties on Wednesday after an interview he gave about his association with Epstein drew widespread criticism.
feeds.reuters.comJeffrey Epstein estate: Talks underway to settle victim claims
Lawyers representing women who say they were victims of sexual assault by Jeffrey Epstein were in court Thursday to begin the process for settling claims against the estate worth upwards of $600 million. He said a team of three would manage future claims, including Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw the process for paying claims to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the BP oil spill. Feinberg, Jordana Feldman and Camille Biros would proceed "with a confidential process" in which there would be "no cap on claims," Moskowitz said. "We have basically no information" about the estate, Kaplan said. She called it "disrespectful" and said "we have serious doubts" about the settlement process.
cbsnews.comWomen expected to sue Jeffrey Epstein's estate over sexual abuse claims
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Women who say they were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein are expected to sue the disgraced financiers estate as soon as Wednesday, when a New York law goes into effect that makes it easier for people to file civil lawsuits over sexual abuse. Kaplan said she hopes to take advantage of the Child Victims Act, a New York state law which opens a one-year window for people to file lawsuits over alleged sexual abuse regardless of how long ago it occurred. Barr also said the criminal investigation into Epsteins alleged sex trafficking and the role of possible co-conspirators would continue. A document filed by Epsteins lawyers last month listed his total assets at about $559 million, including two private islands and four homes. This week, we intend to pursue justice for our client, Jennifer Araoz, and hold accountable those who enabled Mr. Epsteins criminal activity, Araoz lawyer, Dan Kaiser, said in a statement on Sunday.
feeds.reuters.comLawyers say Epstein victims to sue financier's estate this week
Kaplan will sue on behalf of a woman described in the indictment against Epstein as a minor victim. It is unclear whether the estate will try to shield Epsteins assets from the women, Kaplan said. If hed been convicted of a crime, you dont have to prove much in a civil case, Kaplan said. To win a civil case, a victim only needs to show liability by a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. Callan was one of the lawyers involved in a civil case against former football star and television personality O.J.
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