Judge Kaplan Denies Trump’s Request To Delay Carroll Verdict

Despite what many would consider a halfway decent day yesterday it’s been a really bad week for Donald Trump. This weekend it turns out there’s more bad news. Trump owes E. Jean Carroll another $83.3 million bucks from losing in court to her again last month. On Friday Trump’s lawyers filed a request in Manhattan federal court for a stay in the judgment. Judge Lewis Kaplan said “No” and in pretty blunt terms.

From the moment the jury’s verdict (and the amount of damages Trump would have to pay) was announced everyone knew he’d appeal. Hell, appealing and attempting any form of delay for any consequences for his misdeeds and mistakes comes as naturally as breathing for Trump. His problem is that in New York state in order to appeal, just like anyone else (to his dismay he’s suddenly getting treated like anyone else!) Trump has to either convince the judge/court he can/will pay up for the full amount of damages if he can’t get the award overturned or at least reduced.

Well, from what I understand while that sometimes happen most of the time those on the hook for damages have to go another route. Trump was never, from this or almost any other judge (Cannon in Florida, Kacsmaryk in Texas, or Thomas or maybe Alito if they were trial judges would help Trump out of course) going to get THAT break. That leaves the most frequently used method which is to put up cash (in escrow) or bond to cover it. Worse for Trump is that in new York he only has thirty days after the judgment is entered to appeal to get the award overturned or reversed.  (Kaplan could have filed it the day the jury ruled but he held off for a bit) If there’s no appeal when the clock runs out the plaintiff (Carroll) can start proceedings to collect what’s owed.

In the article by Raw Story about judge Kaplan’s swift denial of Trump’s request for a stay, the one page denial made a couple of thing plainly clear to Trump that Kaplan has his number and isn’t going to put up with the kind of legal crap Trump is used to getting away with:

“Twenty-five days after the jury verdict in this case, and only shortly before the expiration of Rule 62’s automatic stay of enforcement of the judgment,” Kaplan noted. “Mr. Trump has moved for an ‘administrative stay’ of enforcement pending the filing and disposition of any post-trial motions he may file. He seeks that relief without posting any security.”

“The Court declines to grant any stay, much less an unsecured stay, without first having afforded plaintiff a meaningful opportunity to be heard,” the judge wrote in his one-page order.

Ouch. To put an even finer point on it judge Kaplan also stated in his order that Carroll has until Thursday to file a motion regarding any request for an administrative delay and that Trump would be given a chance to respond.  Now, we’ll break this down a little more but the thing to keep in mind is that the clock is ticking on Trump being able to file an actual appeal.

As for what’s blocked out above I loved the specific mention of “not posting any security.” That’s the judge being polite, but really saying in effect: Dude, you think this court is going to trust YOU to keep your word and pay up if you don’t win on appeal? I trust you on that kind of promise about as far as I can throw the courthouse! Then there’s the beginning part of what I blocked out. The part where the judge says it’s already been 25 days since the verdict, “and only shortly before the expiration of Rule 62’s automatic stay of enforcement of the judgment.” THAT is judge Kaplan’s polite way of saying: Tick Tock dude. Your 30 days are almost up. Pay Carroll her money and shut up, or if you want to appeal put up as in fork over the cash into escrow or post bond. And your running out of time. I repeat, Tick Tock.  

Remember Kaplan showed right off the bat he knew Trump’s schtick and wasn’t having any of it in HIS courtroom. On the very first day of the trial he threatened to remove Trump from the courtroom!  He also didn’t allow for provisions for Trump to hold pressers at the courthouse. Trumpty had to go elsewhere for that instead of grandstanding in the halls or even on the courthouse steps.  Yep. To judge Kaplan Trump is just another individual appearing in court and he’ll get the same treatment as anyone else.

Anyway, last year when Trump lost the first time to Carroll it cost him “only” five million. That’s more than most of us can dream of but Trump quietly forked over the money into an escrow account and filed his appeal. As least when he loses that appeal (likely) Carroll will collect that. Now? My how things  have changed. Trump has been bleeding cash and his donations have started to taper off. And his legal bills are about to get even worse as he’s headed to criminal trial in Manhattan in March, and if SCOTUS denied him a stay in DC too come May or early June. Fun fact. Lawyer’s retainer agreements usually have a smaller hourly rate for pre-trial work. Once a trial starts that hourly rate jumps “bigly.”

When the second Carroll verdict came down Trump also had the impending New York state fraud judgment hanging over his head. Given the antics he got away with in and outside court in that case he might have at times psyched himself into believing he was bullying judge Engoron to go easy on him but he always knew deep inside he was looking at a multi hundred million penalty. As you know by now it turned out to be considerably more. However, even if as Trump hoped, hell was even counting on James’ original request for $250 million in damages got reduced to say $200 million he had a serious cash problem.

Some have (legitimately I think) questioned if Trump could even come up with the almost hundred million (120 percent of the award plus interest) to appeal the second Carroll verdict even if he didn’t have to contend with the state fraud trial judgment. Maybe, but maybe not. However as I’ve noted he knew another and bigger financial hit was coming from his New York state fraud trial. For all the boast he made in a deposition for the fraud trial about having over four hundred million cash on hand he was lying. “Bigly.”

An awful lot of the evidence from that trial shows just how many of his prize assets he owes money against. Even if he puts say Trump Tower up for sale and get’s market price creditors he owes that have it as collateral will get their cut leaving Trump with way less than the sale price. Same for most of  his other “assets.” Add in the fact odds are he’s going to be a convicted felon in at least one and quite possibly two jurisdictions by mid summer and ask yourself this: What bank or bond agent is going to put up not just the amount of the Carroll award but the one to New York state for Trump? There was a time when he might have scammed someone but now?

So today, as he has to take in the measure of judge Kaplan’s swift and almost brutal rejection of his request for time, a break from the court any “afterglow” Trump might have been feeling from a win in South Carolina yesterday is GONE. Not to mention once again he had forty percent of the voters choose someone other than him. Sure, he’ll still get the delegates to be the nominee by the end of next month but if in freaking GOP primaries thirty percent or more of REPUBLICAN voters are already rejecting him he’s in deep shiite come November and he knows it.

Last week was a very, very bad week for Trump. The one to come is unlikely to be any better. And is SCOTUS gives him the back of their hand and gives judge Chutkan the go ahead to restart his DC criminal trial (a quite real possibility) then yes, this week will be far worse for him than last.

So if like me you have a capacity for enjoying the suffering of those who deserve to suffer then enjoy the hell out of the rest of your Sunday.