E. Jean Carroll's Lawyer Forces Donald Trump to Change His Bond

After Donald Trump posted a bond of nearly $92 million as he appeals the jury's verdict in E. Jean Carroll's civil defamation case, Carroll's lawyer on Monday forced the former president to reduce the amount of time between the resolution of his appeal and Carroll's payment.

Trump, the likely GOP nominee in the 2024 presidential race, was ordered in January to pay $83.3 million to Carroll, a former Elle columnist, for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexually assaulting her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. A separate jury last year awarded Carroll $5 million from Trump for sexual abuse and defamation. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and said the cases were politically motivated.

The $91.6 million bond, which Trump posted on Friday, consisted of the $83.3 million judgment, along with statutory interest added by the State of New York. The bond was secured by the Federal Insurance Company, a part of insurance company Chubb Corporation.

On Monday, Carroll's lawyer wrote in a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan that they don't oppose Trump's proposed $91.6 million bond but that it is subject to a small change to one of the terms.

The change reduces the amount of time between the resolution of Trump's appeal and Carroll's payment from an overall 60 days to 30 days.

Newsweek has reached out to Carroll's lawyer and Trump's lawyer via email for comment.

"While we did have one limited objection concerning the timing of payment to the bond that Defendant has posted in connection with his motion to stay enforcement of the judgment pending appeal, the parties have discussed the issue," Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's lawyer, wrote.

"As a result of those discussions, Federal Insurance Company has authorized and Defendant's counsel will agree to stipulate that the 30-day periods listed on page 3 of ECF Doc. 318-1 will be shortened to 15 days, both for the Principal and the Surety. This will have the effect of shortening the overall window to 30 days."

It means that if Trump loses his appeal, instead of having 30 days to send Carroll's payment plus an extra 30 days after a notice was sent, the former president will have just 30 days total to send Carroll's payment.

Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney who was nominated by President Barack Obama and is a Trump critic, previously called the 60-day payment deadline provision "unusual."

Writing in her Civil Discourse blog on Monday, Vance said: "There is an unusual provision in the bond that would give Chubb 60 days from the date final judgment is entered in Carroll's favor [if she wins on appeal] to make payment to her. If Trump loses his appeal and doesn't pay the money, Chubb must tender the full amount. They can collect from Trump in turn, but doing that would be their problem.

"This is good news for E. Jean Carroll because the bond guarantees that the judgment will be paid if she prevails on appeal."

At a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia, on Saturday, Trump said that Carroll has made "false accusations" against him. He also railed against the bond he had to pay.

"I just posted a $91 million bond, $91 million on a fake story, totally made-up story," he said.