(Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Well, that didn’t take long. On Friday afternoon, Donald Trump’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against him based on a claim that New York courts lack personal jurisdiction over their client. Inviting the court to “take judicial notice that the President of the United States has resided in the White House for the past three years,” they requested her to make this whole unpleasant case disappear before the discovery phase. Because faced with the prospect of putting President P-Grabber under oath to talk about sexual assault, Trump’s lawyers were willing to try just about anything.
Yesterday, they got their answer. Surprising exactly no one, Justice Doris Ling-Cohan declined the offer to “take judicial notice” of Mister Trump’s residency, saying, “Although defendant Trump, through his counsel, claims lack of personal jurisdiction, notably, there is not even a tweet, much less an affidavit by defendant Trump in support of his motion.”
Shaaaaaaaade.
Seems like Her Honor noticed that, while the defendant was happy to have his attorneys to make conclusory attestations on his behalf, he was unwilling to swear out an affidavit himself claiming that he was not actually a resident of the state where he maintains a residence, is registered to vote, owns a business, and presumably filed his taxes.
The Court notes that that not only was no affidavit from defendant Trump supplied in support of this application, but even the defendant’s attorney’s application does not assert a basis (evidentiary or otherwise) for dismissal; rather, the affirmation acts as a mere conduit to provide documents relating to the procedural posture of the case.
Then Justice Ling-Cohan delivered a mini-lesson on New York civil procedure and standards for filing an Order to Show Cause in Manhattan Supreme Court. It was ice cold.
“We are pleased, and unsurprised, that the Court refused to tolerate Donald Trump’s latest attempt to avoid discovery in our client’s case,” said Carroll’s counsel Roberta Kaplan, a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink. “We look forward to moving ahead in this case and proving that Donald Trump lied when he told the world that he did not rape our client and had not even met her.”
Trump’s motion to stay discovery was also denied.
“WE MOVE AHEAD!!” tweeted a jubilant Carroll.
Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.