Donald Trump’s legal woes …
Donald Trump must pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defaming her by branding her a liar, a jury decided, after a two-week civil trial. Trump appealed the verdict, and in a contentious 70-minute broadcast on CNN, he mocked Carroll’s account of his having sexually abused her and repeated falsehoods about his 2020 election loss. Here is an overview of the former U.S. president’s legal troubles.
In the U.S. Supreme Court …
The country’s top court overturned the bribery conviction of Joseph Percoco, an ex-aide to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The high court also preserved a California law banning the sale of pork in the state from pigs kept in tightly confined spaces. Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Texas billionaire Harlan Crow to detail gifts he or his companies have made to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Employment …
Can employers be held responsible when workers who contracted COVID-19 spread it to members of their households? The California Supreme Court weighed the question of employer liability. Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $215 million to settle a class action alleging widespread bias against women in pay and promotions. Meanwhile, Twitter dodged a proposed class action accusing it of targeting female employees for layoffs after Elon Musk acquired the company last year. A Black former Tesla factory worker accused the electric automaker’s lawyers of “egregious misconduct” after a jury awarded him $3.2 million in a race bias case, and asked for a third trial so he can seek more money. A different jury had awarded him $137 million. And, the 11th Circuit ruled that the EEOC can’t probe an auto parts maker’s other plants after naming its Alabama factory in a complaint alleging disability discrimination.
Bankruptcy …
U.S. corporate bankruptcies are at their highest levels since 2010. Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex received court permission to borrow $7 million in bitcoin to fund the start of its Chapter 11 case. A U.S. bankruptcy judge blocked the NBA team Phoenix Suns’ new TV deal. Martin Shkreli-founded drug company Vyera Pharmaceuticals filed for bankruptcy. And, indicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried renewed his attacks on the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange’s law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell. Meanwhile, India’s Go Airlines was granted bankruptcy protection, at the heart of which lies an engine dispute.
