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- E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle columnist, accused Donald Trump of rape in a memoir published in 2019.
- The writer sued Trump for defamation after he denied sexually assaulting her in a dressing room in the 1990s.
- Carroll’s lawyer is asking to combine the defamation trial with a civil sexual battery suit.
A former Elle columnist, who accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s, plans to sue the former president as soon as a New York law that opens up the statute of limitations for abuse cases goes into effect on November 24.
E. Jean Carroll, who made the accusations public in 2019, plans to file a suit for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, Roberta A. Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer, wrote in an August letter to a New York judge that was made public on Tuesday.
The writer was unable to pursue a case against Trump due to the state’s statute of limitations on certain sexual offenses. But with the Adult Survivors Act (ASA), victims of sexual assault who were over 18 years old at the time now have a one-year window to file a civil case regardless of when the incident occurred. This means that once the law goes into effect on November 24, 2022, a plaintiff has until November 24, 2023, to file a case. The law was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul on May 24.
Carroll previously made the accusation against Trump public in her 2019 memoir, “What Do We Need Men For?”
She alleged in the book that, in 1995 or 1996, Trump pushed her against the wall in a dressing room and sexually assaulted her, claiming he forced his “fingers around my private area” and thrust “his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me.”
Trump vehemently denied the allegations.
“I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened,” Trump told The Hill in 2019.
In response, Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump, which is set to go to trial next year in February.
Carroll’s lawyer hopes to also try Trump for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress in the same trial, according to the letter dated August 8.
“In our view, because … the facts between the two cases overlap to such a significant degree, we believe that there is no reason why both actions could not be tried together starting on February 6, 2023,” Kaplan wrote.
Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, wrote in a response to the letter that her client “wholly and adamantly objects” to the proposal of consolidating the cases.
Carroll’s legal team also is seeking a deposition from Trump after alleging that the former president’s responses for discovery in the defamation case were “deficient.”
“To date, discovery in the above-referenced defamation case has been entirely one way,” Kaplan wrote.
Trump’s attorney responded that the letter “mischaracterizes the discovery efforts” her client has made.
Attorneys for Carroll and Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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