US Court orders Stormy Daniels to pay $122,000 in Trump legal bills
US, April 5: A US Court has ordered Stormy Daniels to pay nearly USD 122,000 of Donald Trump's legal fees that were racked up in connection with the porn actor's failed defamation lawsuit.
The decision in California occurred around the same time Donald Trump became the first ex-president to face criminal charges. In a New York City courtroom, Trump pleaded not guilty to a 34-count criminal charge accusing him of falsifying business documents in a conspiracy to cover up allegations of extramarital affairs with Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal that surfaced during his first White House run.
Daniels claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and was paid USD 130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement days before the 2016 presidential election.
She filed a defamation suit against him after he dismissed her claims of being threatened to stay silent about the tryst as a "total con job." In 2018, a judge dismissed the case.
On Tuesday, a commissioner for the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals decided that Trump's attorneys "reasonably spent" more than 183 hours on the case's appeal, but dismissed a request for an additional USD 5,150 in other costs because it wasn't itemized.
According to Harmeet Dillon, one of Daniels' attorneys in the lawsuit, Daniels has been ordered to pay more than USD 600,000 in Trump's legal fees.
This includes USD 300,000 in attorney's fees, which Daniels was previously ordered to pay.
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- With inputs from agencies
