OPINION:
“Jury awards E. Jean Carroll more than $83M in additional damages over Trump remarks” (web, Jan. 26) describes how a federal court greatly jury increased what was a $5 million defamation award against Donald Trump. In words of just one syllable, I do not get any of this.
This all started, as I understand it, when E. Jean Carroll accused Mr. Trump of raping her in a department store changing room. He denied the accusation and she sued for defamation based upon his denial. The jury ruled that Mr. Trump did not rape her, but sexually assaulted her.
If she only claimed rape, the jury found that Mr. Trump told the truth, because he didn’t rape her. The jury finding of sexual assault is irrelevant, as she never said he sexually assaulted her short of rape. With Mr. Trump telling the truth, that should be the end of a defamation case.
JIM DUEHOLM
Washington
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