This Was A Bad Investment
The news Tuesday was dominated by former President Donald Trump being arraigned in a state court in New York City. But one story, actually tied to that, did not garner as many headlines.
The same day Trump was in court in New York, across the continent, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Trump to recoup legal fees from adult film performer Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Ms. Clifford had filed—and lost—a defamation lawsuit against Trump. She had sued the President in 2018 after he called an allegation made by her “a total con job” in a tweet. She asserted that she had been threatened by an unknown man in a parking lot to keep quiet about any affair she may have had with Trump a decade before he became president.
A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit before it went to trial, and ordered Ms. Clifford to pay roughly $293,000 in legal fees to Trump. She appealed and lost…and was then ordered to pay another $245,000 in legal fees. Apparently figuring “third time’s the charm” she appealed again…and again lost, with the judge ordering her to pay more than $120,000 more to compensate Trump for his legal fees.
If you’re doing the math, she sued him for defamation, the case was dismissed before going to trial, and now she has been ordered to repay him more than $600,000 in legal fees. That’s not uncommon, to force the losing party to reimburse the other side for legal fees if the case was wholly without merit…as this one was judicially determined to be.
If you’re keeping score, she only received $130,000 from then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen to not disclose any details of any relationship with the then-TV reality show star.
I don’t know how show business works…but spending $600,000 after only getting $130,000 seems like a bad investment.
