E. Jean Carroll plans to sue Trump using new N.Y. sexual assault law

Writer and columnist E. Jean Carroll, who has maintained that Donald Trump sexually assaulted her once during the 1990s, plans to sue the former president under a New York law that lets sexual assault victims file suit years later, she said in court records filed Tuesday.

In late May, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed into law the Adult Survivors Act, which will give adult sexual assault survivors up to one year to file a lawsuit regardless of when the alleged violation happened.

In the court documents filed Tuesday in her ongoing defamation case against Trump, Carroll’s attorney Roberta A. Kaplan told a New York federal judge that her client intends to file a lawsuit against Trump “as soon as that statute authorizes us to do so.” Carroll can sue under the Adult Survivors Act as of Nov. 24.

Carroll — who in 2019 recounted the alleged assault in an excerpt of her book — previously hadn’t been able to press charges because the statute of limitations passed. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Kaplan declined to comment when reached by The Washington Post on Wednesday. Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, did not immediately respond when reached by The Post seeking comment.

The Carroll announcement came a day before New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Wednesday filed a lawsuit accusing Trump, three of his grown children and executives at his company of flagrantly manipulating property valuations to deceive lenders, insurance brokers and tax authorities into giving them better rates on bank loans and insurance policies and to reduce their tax liability. James is seeking restitution and to ban Trump from buying commercial property in the state for five years.

New York writer who accused Trump of sexual assault sues him for defamation

Carroll, who Trump has called a liar, is in the middle of an ongoing defamation suit against the former president following the published excerpt of her book where she first recounted the alleged assault.

In the excerpt, as she has claimed in her defamation suit, Carroll said she ran into the real estate developer at upscale department store Bergdorf Goodman in New York City in late 1995 or early 1996. They chatted and shopped together before Trump attacked her in a dressing room, she said. Carroll said he knocked her head against a wall, pulled down her tights and briefly penetrated her before she swiftly pushed him off and ran out of the store.

Carroll is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Trump attempted to countersue, but a judge rejected the bid.

N.Y. judge rejects Trump’s attempt to countersue E. Jean Carroll

In the court documents filed Tuesday, Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer, alleges Trump has yet to cooperate in the discovery process. He “remains unwilling to produce” any evidence mandated by the court, Kaplan wrote. Carroll, though, is ready to produce over 30,000 pages of evidence requested by Trump’s defense, she added.

“To date, discovery in the above-mentioned defamation case has been entirely one way,” Kaplan wrote in August.

Kaplan has sought to consolidate Carroll’s defamation suit with the new lawsuit she is expected to file under the Adult Survivors Act. Habba has asked the judge to deny this, saying it would be “extraordinarily prejudicial” to Trump.

Beth Reinhard and Shayna Jacobs contributed to this report.

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Source: WP