Judge orders Trump to sit for a deposition in his defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11
A federal judge on Thursday ordered Donald Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC by Dec. 11.
The order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett came as lawyers for the British broadcaster complained that Trump had delayed his appearance. Charles Tobin, attorney for the BBC, said that with two months left in the discovery period, “we still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff.”
He noted there was an agreed-upon date of Oct. 16, but that Trump had canceled it for a “matter of national importance.” Tobin said the Republican president was in fact campaigning in Georgia that day. “He was participating in party politics and prioritized that over sitting for the deposition,” Tobin said.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-bbc-media-defamation-0a26fa60b265f55a9bcf7ed88cfacab8Open linkView original on lemmy.world
21 replies
Or what? Yeah... it's totally going to happen, this time.
The "or what?" was in the article. Appear for a deposition by Dec 11 or he loses the suit.
That's not a real threat to him...
Have you tried reading the article?
No deposition, no more lawsuit.
He already wants out of the lawsuit so that he can evade discovery. When they close it he'll just scream to high heaven about how the entire system is rigged against him by activist judges.
It's not possible, but he should be held in contempt and locked up until he fully cooperates.
He dropped actual damages to avoid disclosing his financial details, the release of which would almost certainly expose him to prosecution. Now he's still suing only for reputational damage. So he hasn't dropped the case yet. But this ruling might convince him to. No lawyer in their right mind would let that rotten-brained liar give a deposition.
Didn't he actually try to drop the whole thing, but the BBC said no, let's keep going?
Eventually, but meanwhile the BBC is spending, at least indirectly, the British taxpayer's money just to maintain a shred of journalistic independence while reminding them that there is a price and his base that they're "fake news".
I assume that this was a very satisfactory "plan B" all along. Harassing via litigation is the one thing he's proven to be very good at over the years.
I'm not a lawyer, but as I understand it, if he doesn't stand and the case is dismissed, the BBC will be able to recover their costs from him.
So, it would be safe to assume it would eventually be the USA taxpayer footing the bill.
As is tradition
Don't worry, I'm sure Trump will pay their attorneys' fees just as well as he pays the people who do work for him. With summary judgement, a court order, and senile murmuring about a witch trial.
In an academic sense, yes, but more likely is that he stalls and appeals and leverages every excuse his job offers him and every weasel word in the Rules of Civil Procedure, and then drops the suit at the last possible moment before there's an order, and then appeals any claim for attorney's fees because it was dropped due to some fig-leaf explanation and not because it was without merit.
Eventually the BBC walks away vindicated in the eyes of anyone paying attention, and maybe with some settlement of their own, but almost certainly not made whole and their speech is at least somewhat chilled because they have to be good custodians of their budget, just as was always intended.
Maybe I'm jaded, but litigation with a ratfuck is ratfuck business. It can be a worthwhile investment if you have something other than money at stake, but it's inherently wasteful and awful.
President Orange fucks around and finds out
I suspect he will let that time run out and then try to frame it like they dropped the case even though it was his lawsuit.
It’s just political grand standing until someone grows some balls to do something. IYKYK
Hopeful, they throw up the lawsuit
Who ate the lawsuit?
Me
Thank you for your service.
After seeing him glitching out today, I'm questioning whether or not he'll be alive or mentally able to sit for deposition.
I saw my dad do this and a few weeks later he could not even talk, then he was gone.
Dementia Donnie is running out of time.