Tr*mp's Financial Hell Through Automatic Defamation Judgments
A math/legal nerd post, with profound implications
I don’t write about politics much here on The Frontier Psychiatrists. I do muse about the law. That is what today’s post is about. It's actually a math nerd/legal Mashup. I have an interest in defamation cases, especially in the state of New York. The D*nald— he’s setting legal standard after legal standard!
Let’s start with why civil action in New York State can be so brutal, financially—interest on civil fraud accrues from when the fraud was committed. Which means that the big D has 9% (by law) interest due on his verdict already. The appeals process is open to him, but he has to pay judgments into escrow to even go through the appeals process. And in New York, the Sheriff can Seize Assets. It is hard to hide Trump Tower, for example.
With the interest on his civil fraud case, brought by AG Letitia James, the actual amount he needs to pay into escrow is around $450m on that matter alone.
This is what interest on 9% looks like compounded monthly…
Thanks, US Government website on compounding interest.
What blew up my brain however is the effect of the precedent set by the former president. Remember his second E. Jean Carroll case? In which it was found that “second defamation”—someone defamed after an adjudicated matter no longer has to prove that they were defamed, rather, any subsequent torts are only about the extent of the damages. Well, I suspect this is going to bite The Lord of Defamation really hard…and here is how: (quoting the delightful
itself quoting the lord of liability himself):the Corrupt Judge conspired with the Crooked Attorney General, Letitia James, and punished a liquid and beautiful Corporate Empire that started in New York, and has been successful all around the world…..
The claim that judge Engoron is corrupt is false and defamatory.
The claim that AG James is conspiring and Crooked is false and defamatory.
Given the matter about which he is defaming them is a settled tort, it could be argued that, per Carrol v Trump II, the defamation is already established as actually malicious (in that The Tenacious D knows he lost the case). Thus, if AG James were to want to really Dunk on the D, she, and even Judge Engoron would be well within their rights to sue him for defamation. They would, as established, auto-win1, and move on to damages. Which would, again, need to be paid into escrow. Interest accrues while the appeals process plays out.
Donny can’t shut up—but the “auto-defamation” of adjudicated legal matters is a different ballgame. What happens when saying false and defamatory things (previously adjudicated) becomes a more expensive hobby—in a state court, not federal—than anyone can possibly afford? We may be about to find out.
This is a plausible outcome, but not a certain one. My real point is that in NYS, adjudicated defamation by serial defamers creates a nasty financial bind. They won’t stop/can’t stop, but interest accrues on the behavior.