On February 23, 25 days post the jury’s verdict in the second E. Jean Carroll defamation trial, lawyers of Donald Trump walked into the courtroom to request for an unsecured stay of the judgment. They explained a strange theory claiming a 3.6:1 ratio of punitive to compensatory damages was excessive under the Second Circuit precedent. Despite this, they confidently predicted that Judge Kaplan would likely overturn the jury’s staggering $83 million verdict during post-trial motions.
Carroll’s legal team has put forth a strong rebuttal to Trump’s claims, emphasizing on the apposite Second Circuit precedent that presents a weighty multi-factor balancing test for evaluating requests for an unsecured stay.
The New York Supreme Court hit Trump with half a billion dollars in disgorgement due to his company’s fraudulent misrepresentations about his net worth. Given this information, the doubt surrounding Trump’s financial circumstances and his habitual lies about wealth, Judge Kaplan might think twice before taking the former President’s word for it.
Alina Habba, Trump’s lawyer, responded on Friday, reiterating the claim that judicial estoppel prevents Carroll from disputing her own evidence of President Trump’s wealth. Nonetheless, no action by the court, or no posting of a $91.6 million bond by the defendant would allow Carroll to begin collecting from March 9. The tone of the minute order implicitly suggests Trump should make immediate preparations for the same.