What are the outcomes of the civil sexual-assault cases filed against Donald Trump?
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Executive summary
E. Jean Carroll’s two civil cases are the only high-profile civil sexual‑assault suits against Donald Trump that produced jury findings and multi‑million‑dollar awards: jurors found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll and later awards and rulings produced roughly $88.3 million in damages, with at least a $5 million judgment affirmed on appeal and other awards pending appeals and further legal review [1] [2] [3]. Other civil claims by women have mostly been dismissed, withdrawn, settled or remain unresolved in varying forms, and Trump continues to contest adverse rulings through appeals and constitutional arguments [1] [4] [5].
1. The Carroll verdicts and money judgments: what was decided
A Manhattan jury in May 2023 found Donald Trump liable in a civil trial for sexually abusing and defaming magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, concluding he was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation; that verdict was followed by damages awards that cumulatively total approximately $88.3 million across related cases and rulings [1] [2]. A separate federal appeals panel — the Second Circuit — explicitly affirmed a $5 million award that the jury had granted for defamation and sexual abuse, rejecting arguments that the trial judge erred in admitting testimony and other evidence [3] [6].
2. How Carroll’s second suit was possible: the Adult Survivors Act and renewed claims
Carroll’s second case (often called Carroll II) was filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, a temporary law that revived certain civil sexual‑assault claims otherwise barred by the statute of limitations, allowing her to add a battery claim in 2022 and renew defamation allegations tied to more recent statements by Trump [2] [7]. Federal district court opinions and trial rulings in that litigation discussed the ASA’s role in permitting the battery claim and formed the procedural backbone of the April–May 2023 trial [7].
3. Appeals, constitutional arguments and continuing litigation
Trump has mounted a vigorous appeals strategy and raised broader immunity and evidentiary arguments: he asked the Supreme Court to review the $5 million verdict and has claimed lack of eyewitnesses and other alleged trial errors while arguing some evidence should not have been admitted [5]. The Second Circuit, however, rejected many of those challenges in a written opinion upholding the verdict and evidentiary rulings, and trial rulings remain the focus of ongoing appeals [3] [8].
4. Other civil sexual‑assault cases: a mixed record
Beyond Carroll, other civil claims against Trump have had different outcomes: Summer Zervos’s defamation suit proceeded in state court for years but was ultimately withdrawn before key testimony; earlier suits alleging sexual assault tied to Jeffrey Epstein or brought by Jill Harth were dismissed or voluntarily withdrawn, and several accusations remain publicly reported but without civil verdicts against Trump [1] [4]. Media roundups and reporting list many allegations over decades, but few produced the combination of a jury finding and affirmed damage awards that attended the Carroll litigation [9] [1].
5. How courts and the public framed competing accounts
Courts permitted testimony about other alleged incidents and the notorious 2005 Access Hollywood recording under rules allowing evidence of other sexual assaults in such cases, a decision Trump challenged on appeal as prejudicial; the appeals court found those evidentiary rulings permissible under federal rules and not grounds to overturn the verdict [3] [8]. Trump’s public defense — asserting no eyewitnesses, no contemporaneous police report, and political motive — has been central to his appeal filings, while Carroll’s camp emphasized the ASA and credibility of testimony and cross‑case corroboration presented at trial [5] [8].
6. What remains unresolved and what reporting cannot confirm
Although several awards have been entered and one key $5 million judgment has been affirmed, many elements remain in motion: multiple awards are under appeal, additional appeals — including a Supreme Court petition — were filed, and reporting does not provide final, unappealable closure for all monetary determinations or any subsequent enforcement actions [2] [5]. Where source reporting lacks new rulings or final appellate outcomes, this account does not assert their resolution.