Carroll v. Trump

Background

The court ruled on objections to the parties’ designations and counter-designations of portions of Donald J. Trump’s deposition. A deposition is sworn testimony taken before trial. The parties proposed using selected portions of the deposition at trial, and they objected to some of the proposed excerpts.

Rulings on Trump’s Deposition

The court overruled Trump’s broad objection under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 32 to using any portion of his deposition. The court rejected Trump’s argument that the deposition could not be used because he was listed as a possible witness. It relied on Rule 32(a)(3), which permits an opposing party to use a party’s deposition “for any purpose,” whether or not that party is available to testify live.

As a result, the court stated that Carroll would be permitted to play her otherwise admissible deposition designations at trial even if Trump testified. This ruling concerned the use of deposition testimony; it did not decide the underlying claims.

Rulings on the Designations and Counter-Designations

The attached schedule records the court’s rulings on particular transcript excerpts. For Carroll’s designations of Trump’s deposition, the schedule identifies objections that were sustained and designations marked “deferred.” The court explained that “deferred” means it reserved decision until it ruled on the parties’ outstanding evidentiary motions.

For Trump’s counter-designations, the court sustained some of Carroll’s objections and overruled others. Rule 32(a)(6) allows a party to add only other deposition portions that fairness requires to be considered with the portion already introduced. The court stated that Trump attempted to include testimony that had already been rejected on that basis in an earlier round of this case and incorporated the earlier order where relevant.

Disposition

The court overruled Trump’s broad Rule 32 objection, sustained or overruled the specific objections as listed in the attached schedule, and deferred certain objections. The order was signed by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on January 4, 2024.