Donald Trump wins ruling in rape accuser Carroll’s defamation lawsuit – By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) / Sept 27, 2022
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal appeals court set aside a judge’s ruling that Donald Trump could be sued for defamation by E. Jean Carroll after denying he raped her, though it stopped short of declaring the former U.S. president immune from the author’s lawsuit.
In a 2-1 decision on Tuesday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan asked an appeals court in Washington to weigh in on whether the laws of that district shielded Trump from liability.
But the Manhattan court also accepted Trump’s argument that he qualified as a U.S. government “employee” when he allegedly defamed Carroll, a condition underlying his immunity claim.
A dissenting judge, Denny Chin, would have let Carroll pursue “at least some” claims, saying “Carroll’s allegations plausibly paint a picture of a man pursuing a personal vendetta against an accuser.”
