The E. Jean Carroll case against Donald Trump produced two federal jury verdicts totaling roughly $88.3 million, both affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. A jury in May 2023 held Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the 1990s and defaming her in 2022, awarding $5 million. A second jury in January 2024 awarded $83.3 million for earlier defamatory statements Trump made in 2019. Trump’s petition asking the Supreme Court to take up the case is pending as of spring 2026.
Two Lawsuits, Two Different Claims
Carroll sued Trump twice. Understanding the case means keeping the two suits straight, because they cover different statements and were tried in reverse order of when they were filed.
The first suit, filed in New York state court in November 2019, was a defamation claim. After Carroll publicly accused Trump of assault in a New York Magazine excerpt of her memoir, Trump responded within days that he had never met her, called her “not my type,” and said the allegation was a fabrication meant to sell books or help Democrats. Carroll’s 2019 complaint argued those denials were false and damaged her reputation and career.1Justia. Carroll v. Trump, No. 23-793 (2d Cir. 2024)
The second suit, filed in November 2022, went further. New York’s Adult Survivors Act, signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in May 2022, opened a one-year window allowing adults to sue over sexual offenses no matter how long ago they occurred.2Governor Kathy Hochul. Governor Hochul Signs Adult Survivors Act3New York State Senate. Senate Bill S66A Carroll’s lawyers filed nine minutes after that window opened on Thanksgiving morning 2022.4U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Carroll II DI 38 Opinion The new suit added a battery claim for the alleged 1990s assault itself and a fresh defamation claim tied to statements Trump made in October 2022 calling the case a “hoax” and a “complete con job.”
The May 2023 Verdict: $5 Million
The 2022 lawsuit reached a jury first. Trial ran through April and May 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.5FindLaw. Carroll v. Trump (2023) Trump did not attend.
Jurors heard from Carroll, from two friends she told about the encounter shortly after it happened, and from two other women who alleged Trump had assaulted them in separate incidents. They also saw excerpts from the 2005 Access Hollywood recording and Trump’s video deposition.
On May 9, 2023, the jury returned a unanimous verdict. It found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, though it rejected the specific claim that the assault legally amounted to rape. It also found him liable for defaming her with his October 2022 statements. The $5 million award broke down this way:5FindLaw. Carroll v. Trump (2023)
- Sexual battery: $2 million compensatory and $20,000 punitive
- Defamation: $1.7 million to repair her reputation, $1 million in other compensatory damages, and $280,000 in punitive damages
It was the first time a jury held Trump legally responsible for a sexual assault allegation.
The January 2024 Verdict: $83.3 Million
The older 2019 defamation case finally reached trial in January 2024, but it looked almost nothing like a typical defamation trial. Because the 2023 jury had already found the assault occurred, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump could not relitigate that finding. Under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, his 2019 denials were false and defamatory as a matter of law.6Reason.com. Ruling on Preclusion of Liability in Second Trial The second jury’s only job was to set damages.
Carroll’s lawyers presented evidence that Trump’s 2019 statements devastated her reputation and triggered a wave of public harassment and death threats. On January 26, 2024, the jury awarded $83.3 million:7Justia. Carroll v. Trump, No. 24-644 (2d Cir. 2025)
- Compensatory damages: $18.3 million, including $11 million to repair her public reputation and $7.3 million for other harm
- Punitive damages: $65 million
The roughly 3.6-to-1 punitive-to-compensatory ratio later became a central issue on appeal.
The Appeals
Trump appealed both verdicts to the Second Circuit. Both were affirmed.
The $5 million judgment was upheld in a per curiam decision in late 2024, and Trump’s request for rehearing before the full court was denied in 2025.7Justia. Carroll v. Trump, No. 24-644 (2d Cir. 2025)
The $83.3 million judgment was affirmed on September 8, 2025. The Second Circuit rejected two central arguments. It held that presidential immunity from civil liability can be waived, and that Trump waived it by not raising it in his initial filings; the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Trump v. United States on criminal immunity did not change that, because it never addressed whether civil immunity could be waived. The court also concluded that the $65 million punitive award, while approaching the upper limit of reasonableness, was justified by what it called “extraordinary and unprecedented conduct.”7Justia. Carroll v. Trump, No. 24-644 (2d Cir. 2025)
Where the Case Stands Now
Trump filed a petition for Supreme Court review on November 10, 2025.8Supreme Court of the United States. Docket for 25-573 The petition has been distributed for conference several times since early 2026, but the Court has not acted on it. Repeated relisting is not unusual for high-profile petitions.
Meanwhile, Trump posted a $91.63 million bond in March 2024 to block collection of the $83.3 million judgment while his appeal proceeded. Federal law provides that post-judgment interest accrues from the date judgment is entered, at a rate tied to the one-year Treasury yield for the week beforehand.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 1961 – Interest If the Supreme Court declines to hear the case, the combined judgments of roughly $88.3 million plus accumulated interest become immediately enforceable.
Why the Newer Lawsuit Was Tried First
The order in which these cases moved through court is genuinely confusing. Carroll sued in 2019 and again in 2022, yet the 2022 case reached a verdict eight months before the 2019 case did.
The reason was a years-long fight over presidential immunity. In September 2020, the Department of Justice tried to substitute the United States as the defendant in the 2019 case, arguing that Trump’s denials were made within the scope of his presidential duties under the Westfall Act. If that had succeeded, the case would have been dismissed, because the federal government cannot be sued for defamation. Judge Kaplan rejected the substitution in October 2020, holding that the president is not an “employee of the Government” as the statute defines the term, and that publicly attacking a private citizen’s assault allegation is not the work the federal government employs anyone to do. The question then bounced through the appellate courts for years, freezing the original suit.
By the time the immunity question was resolved, the Adult Survivors Act suit had already been filed, tried, and decided. That earlier verdict then dictated the shape of the later trial, leaving the second jury to decide only how much Trump owed.