Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, and Korey Wise–collectively known as the “Central Park Five” or the “Exonerated Five”–were between the ages of fourteen and sixteen when they were accused and tried for the rape and assault of Trisha Meili in Central Park in 1989.[1] While they were convicted and served considerable jail time, they maintained their innocence throughout, foregoing potential early release and parole.[2] The Five were exonerated years later when another man, Matias Reyes, confessed and his DNA matched the profile of the true culprit.[3] Further, much of the police procedure and ensuing media circus surrounding their alleged crimes were found to be racially motivated (the Five being Black and Latino), and the Five won a subsequent suit attesting to this fact.[4]
During the 2024 presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris criticized former President and current President-elect Donald Trump for the full-page ad he placed in several New York newspapers in 1989, which called for New York to reinstate the death penalty in reaction to the attacks then believed to be perpetrated by the Five.[5] In attempted defense of his actions, Trump alleged that the Five pled guilty and that one of the victims had passed away,[6] among other false statements.[7] On October 21, 2024, the Five filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Trump, alleging that these statements constituted defamation, false light, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.[8] The Five seek compensatory and punitive damages, requesting $75,000 or other relief deemed proper by the court.[9]
False and defamatory statements from Trump and those he surrounds himself with are hardly new– if anything, they became a hallmark of his political identity during his first presidency.[10] Trump has built his political identity on misinformation and “alternative facts,” a term coined by former Counsellor to the President, Kellyanne Conway.[11] The October 21st suit is far from the first legal consequences faced by Trump.[12] In fact, he previously lost a defamation suit brought by E. Jean Carroll, a woman Trump publicly disparaged in 2019.[13] Carroll was awarded $83.3 million with $65 million designated for punitive damages.[14]
In addition, several prior cases have been brought against other political figures and commentators to redress their defamatory statements.[15] For example, Alex Jones[16] became particularly notable for his statements regarding the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. The parents of the victims of the shooting successfully challenged Jones’ false statements that the victims were all paid actors and part of a broader “false flag” conspiracy to ultimately restrict American’s access to guns.[17] He was ordered to pay a total of $1 billion to the families of eight victims.[18] Since then, Jones has fought to keep the rights to his social media accounts and company, which he may be required to sell as assets to pay those he defamed, significantly hindering his ability to continue to make such statements.[19] Another notable example is the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani.[20] Giuliani was successfully sued for defaming two Georgia election workers when he alleged that they attempted to steal the 2020 presidential election from Trump–allegations which lead to violent threats made towards the plaintiffs and their families.[21] As a result of the $148 million verdict, Giuliani was required to turn over his New York City apartment and other valuables to the plaintiffs.[22]
Defamation suits can be powerful tools to not only make a victim whole but, when brought against high profile, powerful figures, can work to dispel widespread lies and dissuade further miscarriages of truth.[23] The windfall in the suit brought by the Five, should there be one,[24] is likely to be far above what is asked in the pleading, particularly given Trump’s personal history with civil defamation suits and this pattern of behavior.[25] The prior examples demonstrate that like Giuliani and Jones, the financial penalties from this defamation suit may restrict Trump’s influence by lessening his platform to spread misinformation about the plaintiffs and others.[26] However, given the persistent influence Trump holds over large groups of the American public, financial disincentives may not be enough.[27] Thus, to truly grant relief in this case, the court may be inclined to provide injunctive relief, ordering Trump to permanently cease his pattern of making false statements against the Five.[28] While this is not a common practice, this case offers a clear example in which an order from the court permanently preventing Trump from doing further harm to the plaintiffs may be the only means of affording them true relief.[29]
[1] Complaint at 3, Yusef Salaam v. Donald Trump, Case 2:24-cv-05560-MMB, (E Dist. PA, Oct. 21, 2024), https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/jnpwjyzrxvw/SALAAM%20v%20TRUMP%2020241021.pdf.
[2] Id at 4-5.
[3] Id at 5-7.
[4] Id. at 5-7.
[5] Id at 7-8.
[6] Id. at 8; see also Alexander Mallin, 'Central Park 5' members file defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump over comments during ABC News debate, ABC Nᴇᴡs, (Oct. 21, 2024), https://abcnews.go.com/US/central-park-five-trump-lawsuit/story?id=114994231 [https://perma.cc/JCQ2-MALG].
[7] This author intentionally chose not to include further details regarding the inflammatory statements made by the former President, out of respect for the alleged victims, as well as to avoid the continued spreading of allegedly defamatory statements.
[8] Complaint, supra note 1 at 1.
[9] Id. at 14-17.
[10] See e.g. Glen Kessler, Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims as president. Nearly half came in his final year, Wᴀsʜ. Pᴏsᴛ (Jan. 23, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-fact-checker-tracked-trump-claims/2021/01/23/ad04b69a-5c1d-11eb-a976-bad6431e03e2_story.html [https://perma.cc/BK9W-PVXG].
[11] See generally Daniel Dale, The 15 most notable lies of Donald Trump’s presidency, CNN (Jan. 26, 2021), https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/16/politics/fact-check-dale-top-15-donald-trump-lies/index.html [https://perma.cc/SF2W-HU3Y];
Aaron Blake, Kellyanne Conway says Donald Trump’s team has ‘alternative facts.’ Which pretty much says it all, Wᴀsʜ. Pᴏsᴛ (Jan. 22, 2017), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/22/kellyanne-conway-says-donald-trumps-team-has-alternate-facts-which-pretty-much-says-it-all/ [https://perma.cc/ZX6N-SBTG].
[12] See generally Zach Everson, Tracking Trump: The Criminal Cases, Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President, Fᴏʀʙᴇs (Last updated June 23, 2023), https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/article/tracking-trump-investigations-and-lawsuits/ [https://perma.cc/P7D9-RQJA]; see e.g., Stefan Becket, What was Trump convicted of? Details on the 34 counts and his guilty verdict, CBS Nᴇᴡs (June 3, 2024), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-charges-conviction-guilty-verdict/ [https://perma.cc/E3XD-6GP9] (Earlier this year, Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of felony falsification of business records).
[13] Lauren del Valle, Jeremy Herb, & Kara Scannell, Takeaways from the $83.3 million jury verdict against Donald Trump, CNN (Jan. 26, 2024), https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/26/politics/takeaways-jury-verdict-trump-e-jean-carroll-defamation-trial [https://perma.cc/K5GB-UZ77].
[14] Id.
[15] See generally Nicki Brown, Sandy Hook families who won $1 billion in damages from Alex Jones offer to settle for at least $85 million, CNN (Nov. 28, 2023), https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/28/us/sandy-hook-families-settlement-alex-jones/index.html [https://perma.cc/54V8-Y7RG]; Eileen Sullivan, Judge Orders Giuliani to Forfeit Millions in Assets to Election Workers He Defamed, N.Y. Tɪᴍᴇs (Oct. 22, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/us/polit https://apnews.com/article/giuliani-trump-election-indictments-georgia-eb2ff2ca7a94f9f80e95e897584c8e7dics/giuliani-defamation-forfeit-assets.html [https://perma.cc/9YD4-YDT4].
[16] Jones is a political commentator, radio host, and self-professed “conspiracy theorist,” known for utilizing his platform to sell goods including dietary supplements through his website “Infowars.” See, e.g., Joe Coscarelli, An Interview with Alex Jones, America’s Leading (and Proudest) Conspiracy Theorist, N.Y. Mᴀɢᴀᴢɪɴᴇ (Nov. 17, 2013), https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2013/11/alex-jones-americas-top-conspiracy-theorist.html [https://perma.cc/8U88-F42B]; see also Alex Jones: Five Things to Know, ADL (May 10, 2017), https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/alex-jones-five-things-know [https://perma.cc/M7EZ-K4AA].
[17] Id.
[18] Brown, supra note 15. This author intentionally chose not to include further details regarding the inflammatory statements made by Jones regarding the Sandy Hook shooting out of respect for the victims, as well as to avoid the continued spread of defamatory statements.
[19] Jim Vertuno, Alex Jones fighting attempt to sell his social media account rights in Infowars auction, Assᴏᴄɪᴀᴛᴇᴅ Pʀᴇss (Oct. 25, 2024), https://apnews.com/article/alex-jones-infowars-bankrupcty-sandy-hook-shooting-e62620a74409e4e4a57e331f1adf61f2 [https://perma.cc/6U6Z-GVNV].
[20] Guiliani was the former mayor of New York, who in recent years has become embroiled in legal battles in relation to Donald Trump. See Michael R. Sisak, The fall of Rudy Giuliani: How ‘America’s mayor’ tied his fate to Donald Trump and got indicted, Assᴏᴄɪᴀᴛᴇᴅ Pʀᴇss (Aug. 17, 2023), https://apnews.com/article/giuliani-trump-election-indictments-georgia-eb2ff2ca7a94f9f80e95e897584c8e7d [https://perma.cc/K26U-K9WS].
[21] Sullivan, supra note 15.
[22] Id.
[23] Id.
[24] Notably, due to Trump’s 2024 re-election, the state of this suit and other suits brought against him are uncertain given the possibility of presidential immunity. See generally Nik Popli, What Trump’s Win Means for His Legal Cases, Tɪᴍᴇ (Nov. 6, 2024), https://time.com/7173454/donald-trump-win-legal-cases-2024/. [https://perma.cc/Q8HK-NA9V].
[25] See Valle, Herb & Scannell, supra note 12; Brown, supra note 15; Sullivan, supra 15; Complaint, supra note 1 at 16-17.
[26] This is particularly true when accounting for the additional pending civil suits, for which trump already owes a considerable amount of money. See Alison Durkee, Trump Already Owes $24 Million More In Fraud Case As It’s Heard On Appeal, Fᴏʀʙᴇs (Sept. 25, 2024), https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/09/25/trump-already-owes-24-million-more-in-fraud-case-as-its-heard-on-appeal/ [https://perma.cc/YY9V-PA46].
[27] See generally Peter Wehner, The Motivated Ignorance of Trump Supporters, Tʜᴇ Aᴛʟᴀɴᴛɪᴄ (June 16, 2024), https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/06/when-are-trump-supporters-complicit/678704/ [https://perma.cc/8VB7-PS9H].
[28] For more on the argument for providing injunctive relief in defamation cases, see James Netter, Injunction Junction, What’s your Function? Crafting Permanent Injunctions To Be Appropriate Remedies in Defamation Cases, 54 U. Gᴀ L. Rᴇᴠ. 663 (2020).
[29] Id. at 667 (“Many courts consider injunctions on speech to be a type of prior restraint, and the U.S. Supreme Court has declared prior restraints to be ‘the most serious and least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights.’” The author goes on to argue that modern legal scholars have, in reaction to figures like Jones, pushed back against defamation-based injunctive relief being categorized per se as prior restraint.).
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