{"id":2076,"date":"2018-10-17T09:56:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T13:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/?p=2076"},"modified":"2023-07-25T11:44:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:44:26","slug":"judge-dismisses-stormy-daniels-defamation-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/2018\/10\/judge-dismisses-stormy-daniels-defamation-suit\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Dismisses Stormy Daniels Defamation Suit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has scored an initial win in Stormy Daniels\u2019 defamation suit<\/a>. On Monday, October 15, U.S. District Judge S. James Otero dismissed the suit alleging that Trump\u2019s April 18, 2018, tweet defamed Daniels. Trump is also entitled to legal fees. \u00a0Daniels\u2019 attorney, Michael Avenatti, <\/span>tweeted later that day<\/span><\/a> that he had filed a Notice of Appeal with the Ninth Circuit.<\/span><\/p>\n

This defamation lawsuit is just one piece of the ongoing controversy surrounding the Daniels-Trump sex scandal. In March 2018, Daniels appeared in a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview and alleged that a man threatened her to remain quiet about her affair with Trump in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011. The following month, Daniels and her attorney, Michael J. Avenatti, made public a composite sketch of that man <\/span>on ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View\u201d<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On April 18, 2018, Trump retweeted<\/a> a post showing side-by-side photos of the composite sketch and Stormy Daniels\u2019 husband. He added the comment, \u201cA sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Daniels filed <\/span>her complaint against Trum<\/span><\/a>p on April 30, 2018, seeking damages. She argued that Trump intended to convey that she is a liar and \u201cthat she was falsely accusing the individual depicted in the sketch of committing a crime, where no crime had been committed.\u201d Consequently, she charged Trump\u2019s tweet as defamatory, and also claimed that the tweet was defamation per se because it charged her with committing a serious crime. Daniels further claimed that Trump acted with actual malice because he knew of the falsity of his tweet, or acted in reckless disregard for the truth when he posted it. <\/span><\/p>\n

On August 27, 2018, Trump <\/span>brought a motion to dismiss<\/span><\/a>, contending that the complaint failed to state a cause of action for defamation because the tweet constituted a protected opinion, and he did not act with malice or reckless disregard for the truth. He also argued that Daniels did not suffer damages as a result of the tweet.<\/span><\/p>\n

The court <\/span>granted dismissal<\/span><\/a> this Monday, agreeing with Trump\u2019s argument because, \u201cthe tweet in question constitutes \u2018rhetorical hyperbole\u2019 normally associated with politics and public discourse in the United States. The First Amendment protects this type of rhetorical statement.\u201d Judge Otero wrote that, having determined that Trump\u2019s tweet is non-actionable, the Court\u2019s analysis of the motion is complete and it is therefore unnecessary to address Daniels\u2019 actual malice and damages arguments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ashley Park is an Entertainment Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current first year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2021).<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Image: <\/span>Donald Trump<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Gage Skidmore<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>CC BY 2.0<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump has scored an initial win in Stormy Daniels\u2019 defamation suit. On Monday, October 15, U.S. District Judge S. James Otero dismissed the suit alleging that Trump\u2019s April 18, 2018, tweet defamed Daniels. Trump is also entitled to legal fees. \u00a0Daniels\u2019 attorney, Michael Avenatti, tweeted later that day that he had filed a 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