NEW YORK — A writer who says former President Donald Trump raped her inside a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1994 plans to sue him under New York’s Adult Survivors Act.
E. Jean Carroll, who is already suing Trump for defamation, notified a judge overseeing the case of her intent to sue as soon as the statute allows on Nov. 24.
The newly passed legislation allows victims of sexual assault to sue their alleged assailants for a one-year look-back period that suspends the statute of limitations.
“Although we recognize that it is unusual to preview a yet-to-be-filed lawsuit for an adversary or judge, we wanted Your Honor to be aware of (Carroll’s) anticipated filing,” wrote lawyer Roberta Kaplan.
Manhattan Federal Court Judge Lewis Kaplan was notified by Carroll of her intent to sue Trump under the new law in August. She asked him to let both cases proceed together in February, when her libel suit heads to trial. The filing was made public Tuesday night.
Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba, who is representing him in several legal cases, said the former president “wholly and adamantly objects” to Carroll’s proposal to consolidate the two suits. She said allowing that to proceed as such would be “extraordinarily prejudicial.”
Carroll, a former advice columnist, has changed her mind about wanting to depose the former president, according to the latest court filings. In February, she said she only wanted a sample of Trump’s DNA to compare with semen recovered from the dress she wore during the alleged assault.
The new desire to depose Trump comes after he has “barely participated” in the lawsuit, Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan claims.
“Although we met and conferred with (Trump’s) counsel on July 21 and 22 in order to better understand (Trump’s) position, his responses remained murky,” Kaplan wrote in legal documents.
“To be clear, the deposition of (Trump) need not take very long — what (Carroll) seeks to understand at this point is (Trump’s) theory of the case and the facts underlying it before the close of fact discovery.”
Carroll filed a libel suit against Trump in 2019 after he called her a liar at a White House press briefing when she first accused him of rape. The then-president said Carroll was “not my type” when asked about the alleged sexual assault.
Biden’s Justice Department has sought to defend Trump in the lawsuit because he made the comments in his capacity as president. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to decide whether the DOJ can stand in for Trump. Judge Kaplan previously ruled the agency can not.
The DOJ’s legal position has been that it’s not defending what Carroll accused Trump of doing, but a federal employee’s right to be shielded from lawsuits.
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