Former President Donald Trump may be protected from a third E. Jean Carroll defamation case because his latest attacks on her may have legal privilege, an attorney said.
Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, has already told a court that Trump defamed Carroll during a January 17 press conference, setting up the possibility that Carroll may sue Trump a third time.
Courts have twice found that Trump defamed Carroll by claiming she fabricated her claim that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. In the first case in May 2023, a jury awarded her $5 million for sexual assault and defamation.
In September, a second court found that Trump defamed Carroll in other comments in 2019, and a jury is hearing evidence before deciding whether to award Carroll the $10 million she is requesting.
However, New York-based attorney Colleen Kerwick said that courts have previously recognized that press conferences during court cases may have legal protection from defamation lawsuits, which may protect Trump from a third lawsuit.
Kerwick cited the Utah case Pratt v. Nelson in which Mary Ann Nelson, a former member of a small Mormon sect, alleged that she was forced to marry her uncle, David Kingston, in 1997, when she was 16.
Nelson later held a press conference in which she made comments that allegedly defamed Nevin and Denise Pratt, who were among nearly 400 other defendants—including people, businesses, churches and associations—all of which allegedly had ties to the polygamous Kingston family and organization.
The Utah Supreme Court noted that the press conference made news around the world but found that common law privilege "immunizes certain statements that are made during a judicial proceeding from defamation claims."
"The privilege is intended to promote the integrity of the adjudicatory proceeding and its truth finding processes by facilitating the free and open expression by all participants, which will only occur if they are not inhibited by the risk of subsequent defamation suits," the court ruled.
She also pointed to the 1990 case of Scheidler v. National Organization for Women in which an anti-abortion activist lost a defamation case prompted by a National Organization for Women press conference that was held while the organization was suing Scheidler. During the press conference, participants allegedly said that Scheidler was creating an atmosphere that was encouraging arson at abortion clinics. That, too, was found to be protected speech.
Kerwick said such cases could protect Trump from another defamation case by Carroll.
Kaplan has obtained a transcript of Trump's January 17 press conference in which he again claimed that she was lying when she said he sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s at a New York City department store. Kaplan told a court that Trump defamed Carroll in his comments, setting up a possible third defamation case.
Bryan M. Sullivan, Hunter Biden's attorney and a founding partner at Los Angeles-based Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae, told Newsweek on January 15 that a third defamation case would likely be even more costly for Trump than the previous two.
"She can sue him a third time, and precedence has been established from the first two cases. The damages would likely be increased the third time," he said.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's attorney via email for comment on Thursday.
In her submission, filed on Saturday, Kaplan informed the court of Trump's latest press conference:
"After leaving the courthouse on January 17, defendant gave a press conference in which he, among other things, repeated his defamatory statements about Ms. Carroll," she wrote. "We learned about that press conference later that evening, promptly prepared a video and transcript of the portion we intended to put into evidence, and sent the video and transcript to defendant's counsel."
She quoted Trump as saying: "The witness today, the person I never knew, I never had anything to do with, it's a totally rigged deal, this whole thing is rigged—election interference. But, this is a person I have no idea—until this happened, obviously—I have no idea who she was, and nor could I care less. It's a rigged deal, it's a made-up, fabricated story."
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
