1y ago

Donald Trump posts $91.6 million bond for E. Jean Carroll's defamation verdict

www.reuters.com /legal/donald-trump-appeals-e-jean-carrolls-833-million-defamation-verdict-2024-03-08/

Donald Trump on Friday posted a $91.6 million bond to cover the defamation verdict in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll, and began his appeal of the case that arose from his branding her a liar after she accused him of raping her decades ago.

The bond from Federal Insurance Co, part of the insurer Chubb , would cover Carroll's $83.3 million judgment if Trump were to lose his appeal of the Jan. 26 verdict and refuse to pay.

The posting of a bond also means Carroll, 80, wouldn't collect on the judgment during the appeals process, which could take years.

31 comments

Somebody was willing to loan that asshat money?
Investigate them.
- Most people are most familiar with bail bonds, that are normally a 10% deposit. But this:
  It wasn't clear what assets Trump was forced to pledge to secure the bond.
  Makes it sound like he put up property/assets to the bond company.
  Still risky considering trump inflates his prices. But that means it's got to be substantial property.
  
  From the article ...
  Neil Pedersen, who owns Pedersen & Sons Surety Bond Agency in New York and is not involved in the case, said Trump almost certainly put up liquid assets as collateral.
  "The uncertainty of whether Trump will be elected in 2024 is reason enough to require liquid collateral to secure the bond, because no surety has had to enforce an indemnification agreement against a president," he said.
  
  Considering a lot of the more-recent inflated value comes from him being president and “people pay for that shit”…. Yeah, “risky” is an understatement
  
  It wasn't clear what assets Trump was forced to pledge to secure the bond.
  Probably his vault filled with 40 million McChickens/McDoubles
- Thanks Elon
So..what would be the grounds for appeal? Judge surely followed laws and procedures perfectly. Trump was sufficiently represented. I know it's a delay tactic, but what argument would the make?
- "IT'S NOT FAAAAAAAAIIIIIIRR!"
  or
  "Your Honor, do you really want to live in a world where the President-For-Life can't rape whoever he wants?"
  
  lol
  
  "Your honor, don't you realize that I'm famous so you should let me do it?"
- From the article ...
  In seeking a new trial, lawyers for Trump said the verdict was tainted by Kaplan's decision to strike Trump's testimony about his state of mind when he disparaged Carroll.
  According to the lawyers, Trump's statement that "I just wanted to defend myself, my family, and, frankly, the presidency" was relevant to whether he had acted maliciously, and that excluding it "all but assured" a big punitive damages award.
  The lawyers also said Kaplan erred in instructing jurors about the burden of proof needed to show malice.
  
  I missed that, thanks. So they are going on the idea that he wasn't liable for defamation because he didn't KNOWINGLY make a disparaging comment. So, still litigating the original case, which has no bearing here on the second case. The reason the judge didn't allow it is that it is a fact of record that he committed defamation originally. The second trial was only for the second defamation based on the first one. Trump is trying to retry the original lawsuit, which he can't do.
  With luck, this gets rejected instantly,
- Probably to delay until IF he becomes president, he will just pardon himself away from all the lawsuits.
  
  This is a state court. Only the governor can pardon state crimes.
Someone on Mastodon noticed that the judge is giving E. Jean Carroll's attorney's a few days to object to the surety of the bond.
A guy who was just found guilty of inflating the values of his assets may well be trying to use those inflated assets as collateral for his bond. In this case, Chubb is a multi-billion dollar company so they'd be on the hook if he didn't pay, or used inflated assets, so I don't know if her lawyers will have a reason to object. But, it's interesting that they do still have a chance to object.
Say goodbye to that money, Federal.
He'll just claim that Chubb can't collect because he's president (regardless of whether he wins or not, he'll claim he did just like last time). No way they'll get anything from him. He obviously has connections in the company to get that through.
Thanks, Elon
Thank you, Saudis
- Fuck you, Elon.
  Fuck you, Saudis.
  Fuck you, Putin.

31 comments