Which civil lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct have been filed against Donald Trump and what were their court rulings or settlements?
Executive summary
Multiple civil suits alleging sexual misconduct have been filed against Donald Trump; the clearest and most consequential is E. Jean Carroll’s two related civil cases that produced jury verdicts totaling roughly $5 million in one case and, according to summaries, $88.3 million across related matters that remain on appeal [1]. Other reported civil suits — including a 2016 federal filing tied to Jeffrey Epstein and older claims such as Jill Harth’s 1997 allegation — were either dismissed, withdrawn, settled, or covered unevenly in reporting [2] [3] [4].
1. The headline case: E. Jean Carroll — jury verdicts, damages and appeals
E. Jean Carroll sued Donald Trump in two related lawsuits after she publicly accused him of sexually assaulting her in the mid‑1990s; a federal jury in May 2023 found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation and ordered $5 million in one verdict, and court summaries describe combined damages across the related litigation of roughly $88.3 million — decisions that have been appealed and remain subject to appellate review [1]. The appeals court denied an en banc rehearing in June 2025 and courts have continued to process post‑judgment motions and appeals, with Trump seeking U.S. Supreme Court review as of November 2025 [1].
2. What the Carroll rulings mean legally and politically
The Carroll verdict established civil liability — the jury found Trump civilly liable for sexual abuse under New York law and for defamation for his public denials — and courts treated related evidence (including other women’s accounts and the Access Hollywood tape) as part of the civil case record where permitted by the district court [1]. These decisions carry financial penalties and reputational consequences; they have invited vigorous appellate litigation from Trump’s side and have become focal points in political and media debate [1].
3. Other civil filings: dropped, dismissed or contested claims
Reporting notes several other civil complaints over the years: a 2016 federal lawsuit filed in California that named Trump and Jeffrey Epstein was dismissed/withdrawn years ago and a social‑media resurgence of the filing was later debunked as an old, dismissed document [3]. Historical civil claims such as Jill Harth’s 1997 lawsuit alleging sexual harassment were reported in news compendia and legal summaries, and various suits have been settled, withdrawn, or otherwise resolved with limited public detail [2] [4].
4. Settlements, donations and non‑sexual civil litigation context
Beyond direct sexual‑misconduct suits, Trump has pursued and settled many defamation or media suits and engaged in high‑profile civil litigation on multiple fronts; some settlements reported in broader legal summaries involve donations to institutions or payments (for example, corporate media settlements and libel suits), but those concern defamation and business disputes rather than direct sexual‑misconduct adjudications [2]. Available sources do not mention a comprehensive list of monetary settlements tied solely to sexual‑misconduct allegations beyond the Carroll damages [1] [2].
5. Limits of the record and competing perspectives
Available sources document many accusations against Trump (dozens of women reported), but they also show varied legal outcomes: some allegations produced jury findings (Carroll), while other complaints were withdrawn or dismissed and remain either sealed or contested in reporting [1] [3] [4]. Advocates for plaintiffs emphasize the pattern those multiple accounts suggest; Trump and his lawyers call verdicts politically motivated and have pursued aggressive appeals and further litigation — a dispute explicitly reflected in the appellate filings and public statements in the sources [1].
6. What reporting does not (yet) settle
Current reporting in these sources does not provide a single, authoritative catalog of every civil sexual‑misconduct filing by name with final court dispositions beyond the major Carroll case and certain older filings summarized in legal timelines; therefore a definitive exhaustive list with up‑to‑the‑minute dispositions is not found in the cited materials [1] [2] [3]. For the most legally consequential rulings, the Carroll decisions and resulting appeals are the central, documented civil outcomes in the sources provided [1].
Taken together, the public record in these sources shows one major civil adjudication holding Trump liable (E. Jean Carroll) and a mix of other lawsuits that were dismissed, withdrawn, settled, or remain unresolved — all of which have become focal points for competing narratives between plaintiffs’ advocates and Trump’s legal defense [1] [3] [2].