Alina Habba, attorney for Donald Trump, has formally requested detailed information from the judge overseeing the defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll against the former president. This request centers around concerns of a potential conflict of interest involving the judge and Carroll’s lead attorney, Roberta Kaplan.
Habba’s inquiry follows a recent jury decision to award Carroll $83.3 million in damages from Trump. It was reported that the presiding judge, Lewis Kaplan of the Manhattan federal court, previously had a professional relationship with Roberta Kaplan during their tenure at the Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison law firm in the early 1990s. This association has raised questions about impartiality.
In her letter to Judge Kaplan, Habba emphasized the importance of disclosing any mentor-mentee relationship that may have existed between the judge and Roberta Kaplan. She expressed concerns about the impact of such a relationship on the fairness of the trial, particularly as Shawn Crowley, another of Carroll’s lead counsel, had served as a law clerk for Judge Kaplan and reportedly had personal ties to him.
Habba’s request for clarification is aimed at gathering facts that could potentially influence Trump’s planned appeal of the defamation judgment and a separate $5 million judgment in Carroll’s favor for sexual abuse.
A spokesperson for Roberta Kaplan downplayed the significance of the professional overlap with Judge Kaplan, stating that while they were both at the same law firm, their interaction was limited due to their different positions and brief time of overlap.
In her appeal strategy, Habba has stated her intention to argue that the court demonstrated overt hostility towards Trump and his defense team, while showing preferential treatment towards Carroll’s counsel. This claim is bolstered by the recent revelations about the potential conflict of interest, further complicating the legal proceedings in this high-profile case.