This case came from a filing Donald Trump did after Cohen sued him last year. Despite Cohen's work being done in New York, Trump filed his counter-suit in Miami, and in April 2023.
According to the filing, Cohen violated their employee agreement by going public with information about Trump and "enriched himself" on the back of Trump. It goes on to claim that Cohen both lied about Trump and revealed his secrets despite their attorney-client privilege. Trump also alleges a breach of contract.
The lawsuit demands the $74,000 Trump claims he paid Cohen for a "business expenditure" that he said was "fraudulently misrepresented" and then demands $500 million in damages.
Cohen had sued the Trump Organization for unpaid legal fees, ultimately settling the case for $1 million.
While Trump announced the suit in April, little has happened since then, according to the legal updates. Typically, when a lawsuit is filed there are several appearances in court and updates on the online docket. This has been largely silent, with nothing other than a deposition scheduled for Sept. 6 "at a law office in Miami," NBC News reported in July.
Cohen's attorney, Ben Brodsky, told NBC at the time that Trump's deposition notice "functions like a subpoena."
"He can’t avoid it, though he could dismiss the case," Brodsky explained.
“I look forward to Donald’s deposition under oath and proving the frivolous nature of the lawsuit,” Cohen said in a July statement.
But by Friday, the judge demanded an in-person hearing for the next business day, which is the day before the deposition was scheduled. Such appearances don't generally happen without warning, much less a late Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend.
Trump is facing a number of mounting legal issues that are quickly filling up his calendar for the next year when he is supposed to be running for president. Trump has alleged that these suits take him away from campaigning and are intended to harm him politically, therefore they are "election interference."
Former prosecutor Dennis Aftergut wrote for Slate in April that this suit could come back to bite Trump.
"Trump just opened a pathway to discover — and information for the public — that Cohen had sought in a different lawsuit which a judge reluctantly felt compelled to dismiss last November because of Supreme Court law limiting personal actions against government officials," the attorney wrote before adding, "In December 2021, Cohen sued Trump for orchestrating the [Cohen's] reincarceration. In November 2022, federal Judge Lewis Liman lamented that Trump’s status as a government official in 2020, when the reincarceration occurred, blocked courts from providing any relief against Trump."
Trump could face financial backlash as well. His recent lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, former FBI officials, and a slew of other defendants was not only thrown out of court in Florida, but Trump was also penalized.
U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks said in a strongly worded ruling that Trump’s 2022 lawsuit was filled with “glaring structural deficiencies” and that many of the “characterizations of events are implausible.” The judge took additional steps, ruling that Trump's suit was frivolous, and as such he and his attorney, Alina Habba, would be sanctioned nearly $1 million.
That could happen again in this case if the judge similarly feels the Cohen suit is frivolous.
See the screen capture from the court update below or at the link here.
