Donald Trump’s lawyers will use an “insane” and previously unknown “conflict of interest” between E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer and the judge presiding over her defamation case against the former president as the basis for his appeal, seeking to dismiss the astonishing $83.3 million jury verdict, The Post has learned.
Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, said she did not know that Manhattan federal judge Lewis Kaplan and Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, worked together in the early 1990s at the same powerful law firm until Saturday when questioned about it by Post columnist Charles Gasparino, who was informed by a source that the judge had already been a “mentor” to Roberta Kaplan.
“This has never been disclosed. It’s crazy and very incestuous,” said Habba, insisting that neither the 79-year-old judge nor 57-year-old Roberta Kaplan, who are not related, disclosed the “conflict of interest” and a violation of the rules of judicial ethics.
Roberta Kaplan worked at Paul, Weiss Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison in Midtown from 1992 to 2016, before leaving to become a founding partner of Kaplan Hecker & Fink, according to his LinkedIn page.
“This is news to us,” she continued. “We will include this in our appeal and take the appropriate steps. The fact that it was not disclosed is an ethical violation.”
During his early years at Paul Weiss, he worked as a company associate at the same time as Judge Kaplan, who was a partner there until 1994 when he was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Bill Clinton.
Zak Sawyer, Roberta Kaplan’s representative, insisted that there is no conflict.
“They overlapped for less than two years in the early 1990s at a major law firm, when he was a senior partner and she was a junior associate and never worked for him,” said Sawyer, who declined to provide further comments.
But a former partner of Paul Weiss, who asked not to be identified, said that, like all company associates, Roberta Kaplan did his utmost to stand out by the partners, including Lewis Kaplan.
“Lew was like his mentor,” said the former partner.
Messages left with the Kaplan chamber and a representative of Paul Weiss were not returned on Saturday.
Judge Kaplan raised eyebrows on Friday when he awarded Carroll an $ 83.3 million sentence after a jury found Trump liable for slandering Carroll. The slander occurred in 2019 when Trump dismissed his allegations of sexual assault as a “farce” and called him “crazy.”
Some legal experts questioned the size of the damage because it is unclear how much monetary damage Trump has caused to Carroll.
Trump had already been ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in May after a jury found him responsible for abusing her inside a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room in 1996.
On Friday, Judge Kaplan oversaw the surprising $83.3 million sentence awarded to Carroll in Manhattan federal court by a jury consisting of five men and four women.
The jury found Trump responsible for slandering Carroll in 2019 when he dismissed his allegations of sexual abuse as a “farce” and called him “crazy.”
Some legal experts questioned the size of the award because it is unclear how much monetary damage Trump has caused to Carroll.
After Friday’s verdict, Trump promised to appeal both decisions.
“Absolutely ridiculous!” he criticized Truth Social. “I totally disagree with both judgments and I will appeal all of this witch hunt directed by Biden, focused on me and the Republican Party. Our legal system is out of control and being used as a political weapon.”
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