Genuine practical question: Trump as debtor owes a specific monetary amount to Carroll the creditor. Can Trump in fact satisfy the debt by transferring ownership of a tangible object with an irregular valuation? It seems reasonable that if Carroll is willing to receive it, then the answer is yes. But does Carroll have the right, as creditor, to say she will accept only cash? If Trump offers a property and claims its value, can Carroll demand that Trump liquidate the property first and transfer the proceeds, if sufficient to satisfy the debt?
If I am down to 30k on my home loan, I can’t go to my bank and say, here take my car. If I fail to meet my financial obligation the bank has various means to enforce collection, up to and including, potentially, seizing the car and forcing its sale. But if I go and try to make a payment by offering them the car, they’re going to laugh me out of the building.
I worked doing collections and bankruptcy law for less than a year some 30 years ago. Never involved federal judgments. But at that time, I soon found that obtaining a judgment and collecting on that judgment were 2 entirely different things.
At the time, different states differed as to what you could attach/garnish to collect on a state court judgment. Texas - and ISTR Florida - allowed a debtor to exclude 1 car and their primary residence, and did not permit garnishing wages. At the time, I obtained an Illinois judgment against a Houston Oiler, and every Monday I could expect my client to call saying, “I saw him on TV again yesterday! When are you going to get me my money?”
As a very general matter, placing a lien on real property (land/buildings) simply means that your interest is recorded, and will generally have to be satisfied upon sale of that property. The placing of a lien does not automatically require that that property be sold.
As I’ve mentioned in other threads, if you do not deal with this sort of thing, you might be surprised at the lengths to which an individual can go to make themselves judgment proof. What assets does Trump actually own in his own name, in a manner that can easily be seized to satisfy a judgment.
To the extent he has indicated he has cash, that is generally the easiest thing to seize. And posting an appeal bond will also make eventual collection easier.
She was awarded cash and that’s what she’s legally entitled to. If a Trump property is attached and sold, one he said is worth a bazillion dollars, and it gets $20M (a fair market price), then $20M of the creditors’ claims can be satisfied. Period.
Okay, what’s next? Let’s see how much we get for that one. And so on…
I wonder if she always intended to do a retraction, and the only purpose of her letter was to get the item into the far right mediasphere. If so, she’s playing a dangerous game risking sanctions like that.
That’s what my limited understanding is for my Canadian jurisdiction. If the judgment creditor has to enforce the judgment against non-cash assets, and the parties cannot agree on the value of a non-cash asset, it gets sold by auction by the sheriff, and that’s the value of that asset for the purposes of the judgment. If it’s not enough to satisfy the judgment, the judgment creditor looks for other non-cash assets.
New York State probably has sophisticated ways to determine fair market value for enforcement purposes. No idea how the federal judgment gets enforced; do they apply state enforcement rules?
I agree with Dinsdale that a lien, by itself, doesn’t normally trigger a sale. It’s a burden on the title, warning any prospective purchaser or lender that there is a pending claim. It can make ré-finance difficult, because anyone who registers a claim against the property, like a new mortgage, then comes after the judgment creditor in priorities.
At least, that’s what I’m familiar with. As always, IANAUSL.
She withdrew it fairly quickly, so Judge Kaplan might not be too keen on recommending sanctions. This might be the first time I’ve seen any evidence that Habba can learn from her mistakes. So good for her.
Though Trump does seem to share that guy’s interest in incest.
On a more relevant front: As far as I can see from the news, Trump is STILL refraining from typing or saying that Carroll is a liar.
The pressure inside his skull must be intense. To keep silent when he’s desperate to speak–how often has he ever disciplined himself that way?
I’m wondering if maybe he’s got people standing by to put him in short induced comas every single minute that he’s not addressing a crowd. It’s the only way he could keep himself from screaming about how EJC is a liar liar liar…
I think maybe Trump-prodding should be the new national sport, and all journalists should engage. We all know that’s exactly what he’d be doing if the tables were turned!
MAGAs are now claiming that makes them into sex trafficking.
Misinformation peddlers baselessly claim a judge who presided over the defamation case that ended with an $83 million verdict against former President Donald Trump is linked to sex trafficking, noting that the judge dismissed a case related to Jeffrey Epstein. But the Epstein-related case was settled by the parties, and the defamation verdict was rendered by a jury.
Interesting, yes, but does not pertain to the case being discussed in this thread. I’ll move it to the E. Jean Carroll case where it belongs. Please be mindful to post in the thread where the case is being discussed – and I do say that with an understanding that it’s quite a task to keep them all straight. Thanks.
