As Donald Trump and his lawyers head to court once again to face a second defamation lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, he faces the very real prospect of a jury awarding her up to $100 million in punitive damages should a jury find in her favor.
According to a report from New York Times' Benjamin Weiser, Carroll's attorney is looking for a win and financial penalties at the outermost edge that will get the former president to cease smearing her client and that may come in the form of a massive punitive damage award.
The former president is already on the hook for $5 million from Carroll's previous lawsuit and her attorney is reportedly looking for a bigger payday after the former president launched another attack during his CNN town hall immediately afterward.
According to the Times' report, "Ms. Carroll’s complaint will be heard as part of a trial scheduled for January, stemming from verbal assaults he made against her in 2019. Ms. Carroll has said she lost her job as an advice columnist for Elle magazine after those attacks and is seeking at least $10 million in compensatory damages for harm to her reputation. After Mr. Trump’s recent CNN diatribe, she said she also wanted 'a very substantial punitive damages award' that would 'deter him from engaging in further defamation.'"
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“What I do know is that Donald Trump cares a lot about money,” attorney Roberta Kaplan explained. “And here, the prospect that he could have to pay millions of dollars in punitive damages each time he defames E. Jean Carroll again has to weigh on his mind.”
The threat of those punitive damages could be the tipping point that finally keeps Trump uncharacteristically quiet.
The Times is reporting that "Benjamin Zipursky, a Fordham Law School professor, said U.S. Supreme Court precedent has suggested that punitive damages should not exceed 10 times the compensatory damages. Using that as a guide, if Ms. Carroll obtained the $10 million in compensatory damages she seeks, a $100 million punitive damages award might be upheld.
Should Carroll prevail and win a massive punitive award, the former president may face the prospect of further humiliation, with the Times reporting that "Mr. Trump has a reputation for stiffing people who work for him, from laborers to lawyers. But plaintiffs who win money have leverage like liens on real estate and mandatory financial disclosures."
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