Defamation case Summer Zervos decided to abandon her allegations against Trump as per a court filing, and a New York jury decided to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen against the Trump Organization on Friday court documents.
In 2017, Zervos filed a lawsuit against Trump, claiming that he had sexually assaulted her, despite Trump’s denials. As recently as last week, a judge ordered Trump to appear in court on December 23 to take a deposition in the matter. Michael Cohen filed a lawsuit against the Trump Organization in 2019, claiming that the corporation did not fulfill its contractual responsibility to indemnify him or pay his legal expenditures connected to his work for the agency after he started cooperating with federal prosecutors in 2018.
With several criminal investigations and commercial issues tied to the Capitol incident on January 6, Trump’s legal successes come as his behavior during the closing days of his administration continues to haunt him. After failing to cooperate with a subpoena from a House select committee probing the attack, Steve Bannon was indicted by the grand jury on Friday.
The Zervos Lawsuit
Zervos’ lawyers issued a statement confirming their client’s decision to dismiss her lawsuit. For the first time in more than five years, Ms. Zervos decided not to pursue legal action against the defendant. No compensation has been taken from Ms Zervos for her claims in her lawsuit.
It was not clear why Zervos agreed to abandon the case or the terms of the deal. An agreement filed in court said that the allegations and counterclaims claimed in this case or that may have been made are immediately dismissed and terminated with prejudice.
President Trump was entirely vindicated. Donald Trump’s former magazine contributor E. Jean Carroll, who sued him for defamation and accusing him of sexually assaulting her decades ago, issued an official statement after Zervos’ dismissal.
Kaplan Hecker & Fink managing partner Julie Fink claimed that E. Jean Carroll had no intention of abandoning her lawsuit against Donald Trump, notwithstanding the conditions of the Zervos case. Suppose the New York Adult Survivors Act (S66/A648) is passed, and the statute of limitations is removed. In that case, E. Jean will sue Donald Trump for defamation and the fundamental sexual assault in a Manhattan department store years ago.
Trump has vehemently disputed the charges made by Carroll. In December, the court will hear defamation lawsuit arguments before the federal appellate court.
The Cohen lawsuit
Earlier Friday, a New York judge approved President Trump’s request to dismiss Michael Cohen’s case against Trump Organization in 2019. According to Judge Cohen, Mr. Cohen’s legal expenses come out of his (often illegal) service but not out of his service.
A complaint filed in the New York State Supreme Court in July 2017 said that in July 2017, the Trump Organization agreed to indemnify Cohen and pay his legal expenses and costs in connection with the case into Trump’s business dealings. Lawsuits allege that the Trump Organization and Mr. Cohen were acting concerning the Investigations and other issues in a ‘joint defense’ at the time.
According to Cohen, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, the law firm that first represented him, paid him $137,460 in October 2017, half of the bills he had received. After that, the Trump Organization allegedly guaranteed the Trump presidential campaign that it would pay the balance the next day.
The verdict
In an interview with CNN, a Trump Organization representative said that after convicted criminal Michael Cohen’s defeat in court, the baseless lawsuit against the Trump Organization is now over. Michael Cohen’s effort to get the Trump Organization to foot the bill for his legal bills for his criminal activity went awry after the Southern District of New York previously found him guilty of an array of fraudulent conduct driven by “personal greed and ambition” (including perjury). However, Mr. Cohen’s latest effort at self-improvement was a failure. In an interview with CNN on Friday, Michael Cohen slammed the judge’s decision.
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