Clear and convincing evidence is higher than preponderance of the evidence, which means more likely than not. They also had to determine that she proved by clear and convincing evidence that the statement was false, and that Trump made the statement with actual malice.īoth the preponderance of the evidence standard and the clear and convincing evidence standard are not as high a standard as proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is used in criminal cases. To prove her defamation claim, the jury had to find that Carroll’s legal team proved by the preponderance of the evidence that Trump knew it was false when he published the statement about Carroll last year and knowingly exposed her to public ridicule.

In a civil suit like Carroll’s, the jury had to determine whether Carroll’s legal team proved that Trump committed battery against Carroll by a preponderance of the evidence. Trump has denied the allegations and called the verdict “ a total disgrace” Tuesday.Ĭarroll filed the lawsuit last November under the “New York State Adult Survivors Act,” a state bill which opened a look-back window for sexual assault allegations like Carroll’s with long-expired statutes of limitation. The panel in a Manhattan federal courtroom considered Carroll’s allegations that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman lingerie department dressing room in the spring of 1996, and then defamed her in a social media post last October. Jean Carroll has prevailed in her civil trial against Donald Trump with a federal jury finding the former president liable for battery and defamation and awarding the writer $5 million. Jean Carroll arrives for the third day of her civil trial against former President Donald Trump at Manhattan Federal Court on April 27 in New York.

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