By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s request to introduce a new expert witness just two months before a trial regarding the amount he owes for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll has been denied by a federal judge. The judge stated that Trump had waited too long to make the request and “made his own bed.”
Trump argued that he would face “extreme prejudice” without a new damages expert for the trial scheduled for January 16, 2024. He claimed that he had not anticipated the need for one until another expert’s testimony was excluded by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on October 5.
However, Kaplan noted that both sides were required to propose expert witnesses a year ago, and Trump was aware in March that his expert’s testimony would likely be excluded. The judge expressed concerns that if Trump’s request was granted, he might seek to extend or delay the start of the trial, based on his past actions in similar cases.
Kaplan emphasized that Trump had been aware for months that his chosen expert was unreliable and would not testify, yet he took no action. “He has made his own bed and now must lie in it,” the judge wrote.
Trump’s lawyers are currently defending him in a trial against civil fraud claims made by New York Attorney General Letitia James, relating to his family business, the Trump Organization. The lawyers did not provide an immediate comment on the judge’s decision.
E. Jean Carroll, a former columnist for Elle magazine, is seeking a minimum of $10 million for comments Trump made in June 2019, when he denied knowing her and accused her of fabricating her claim of rape in order to promote her memoir. In May, a jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million for sexual assault and defamation in a separate lawsuit, which he is currently appealing.
The case is Carroll v. Trump, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-07311.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
