Which defamation or sexual misconduct accusations against Donald Trump led to settlements or dismissals and in what year and court?

1. Why Carroll’s cases ended in judgments, not quiet settlements — the courtroom story that changed the record

E. Jean Carroll’s allegations led to civil trials in federal court and a New York civil proceeding that culminated in jury findings against Donald Trump. A U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York trial in 2023 resulted in a jury finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5 million that the Second Circuit later affirmed in part in 2024; subsequent rulings and calculations expanded Carroll’s recoverable damages, producing totals reported as tens of millions of dollars and currently under appeal ^{[1] [6] [3]}. These outcomes are court adjudications rather than negotiated settlements, a distinction that matters because judgments carry public records, detailed factual findings, and appellate review, unlike private settlements that often include nondisclosure terms; the sources consistently describe Carroll’s outcomes as judicial awards and appeals rather than compromise agreements ^{[1] [3]}.

2. Where and when the big decisions happened — venues, years, and appellate posture

The central Carroll litigation unfolded in the Southern District of New York in 2023, with jury verdicts and subsequent district‑court and appellate activity through 2024; the Second Circuit addressed aspects of the case in 2024, and reporters summarized the combined awards and ongoing appeals into 2024 reporting ^{[1] [6] [3]}. The reporting frames the timeline as a 2023 trial verdict followed by 2024 appellate developments and additional damage calculations, and emphasizes that those damages remain contested on appeal, meaning the final enforceable amounts and legal precedents were unresolved as of the most recent accounts in the analysis ^{[6] [3]}.

3. Media defamation suits that ended in payments — ABC’s $15 million resolution and other corporate deals

Separate from the Carroll adjudications, Trump pursued defamation claims against media organizations that resulted in high‑profile corporate resolutions. ABC News agreed to a $15 million charitable payment to settle a dispute over anchor George Stephanopoulos repeatedly saying Trump had been found “liable for rape,” language the network’s settlement addressed by classifying the prior finding differently ^{[4] [5]}. Reporting positions these as negotiated corporate resolutions rather than court judgments, with the ABC contribution framed as a settlement of a defamation claim rather than an admission, and with at least one other media‑company litigation involving CBS/Paramount described in reporting as settled for a substantial sum — reported upper estimates near $30 million — though those corporate settlement figures and terms vary across accounts ^[5].

4. Other accusations, dismissals, and withdrawals — a mixed record of litigation outcomes

Multiple women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct across decades, and those allegations have produced a range of legal results: some civil claims were dismissed, others were withdrawn, and several produced no public settlement or were never litigated to judgment, while a few — such as the Carroll cases — led to courtroom awards ^{[7] [8]}. For example, Summer Zervos’s defamation suit ended with a withdrawal or dismissal in 2021 without reported compensation, while the long list of named accusers in timelines indicates many matters did not culminate in public judgments or known settlements; this patchwork demonstrates that outcomes vary by legal theory, venue, evidence, and litigation strategy, and that public reporting aggregates both adjudicated judgments and private withdrawals ^{[7] [8]}.

5. What the available records leave out — contested totals, differing labels, and the need for primary court documents

The analyses provide consistent headlines but diverge on labels and totals: some accounts report combined damage figures for Carroll approaching $88.3 million, others break out the $5 million 2023 jury award plus later amounts, and media settlements are reported as charitable payments or corporate deals rather than conventional damage awards ^{[2] [3] [5]}. These disparities reflect differences between district‑court judgments, appellate rulings, negotiated corporate settlements, and public‑relations descriptions; confirming exact enforceable amounts, payment recipients, and legal character (settlement vs. judgment) requires consulting the underlying district‑court docket entries and appellate opinions, which the provided analyses summarize but do not reproduce verbatim ^{[1] [6] [4]}.

6. Bottom line for someone tracking settlements or dismissals — what we can reliably say now

Reliable, documentable outcomes include a 2023 federal jury verdict finding Trump liable to E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation (Southern District of New York, jury award $5 million) and subsequent legal developments that increased Carroll’s recoverable damages, now reported as substantially higher and under appeal ^{[1] [3]}. Separately, media defamation claims produced negotiated corporate resolutions such as ABC’s $15 million contribution, and other suits have been dismissed or withdrawn at various times (for example, Zervos in 2021) ^{[4] [8]}. For precise years, courts, and document citations, the district dockets and appellate opinions in the Carroll litigation and the public settlement filings with ABC and other companies are the primary records underlying these reported outcomes ^{[6] [5]}.