State of New York vs Trump, et al - the civil fraud case against the Trump Organization

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

[raison de arizona]

[Gregg]

hehheh.jpg

Now IANAL but it appears to me that Habba may be a wee bit over her head.

Like a blindfolded Little Leauger facing Justin Verlander.

[Gregg]

At this point, courtroom reporters say that Trump “began to grumble and angrily folded his arms while staring at the judge” and then “turned to defense lawyer Alina Habba,” loudly groaned, and exclaimed, “No jury!”

Well, at least we now know which lawyer Trump thinks was the one who should have checked the jury demand box.

[Frater I*I]

Like a blindfolded Little Leauger facing Justin Verlander.

If the kid is playing in the world series...there's a good chance he's gonna hit for the cycle...

[raison de arizona]

Habba: We’ve had a strong week… I think we’re doing very well

[northland10]

At this point, courtroom reporters say that Trump “began to grumble and angrily folded his arms while staring at the judge” and then “turned to defense lawyer Alina Habba,” loudly groaned, and exclaimed, “No jury!”

Well, at least we now know which lawyer Trump thinks was the one who should have checked the jury demand box.

What's the over/under that Trump originally insisted on No Jury, the lawyers followed his instructions, and now he wants to blame them for No Jury?

[p0rtia]

Screenshot 2023-10-06 at 10.25.00 AM.png (147.16 KiB) Viewed 1357 times

[Reality Check]

[Chilidog]

What's the over/under that Trump originally insisted on No Jury, the lawyers followed his instructions, and now he wants to blame them for No Jury?

[Gregg]

I said early on that he gamed out that the worst choice was a NYC jury, so take a bench trial, possibly get a favorable judge and no matter what whine about not even getting a jury the whole time.

[bob]

CNN: Trump asks appellate court to stay civil trial pending appeal of judge’s ruling he committed fraud:

Donald Trump is asking a New York appeals court to put the civil fraud trial on hold pending their appeal of Judge Arthur Engoron’s surprise summary judgment order last week that said the former president is liable for fraud.

Trump also is seeking to put the underlying ruling itself on hold, saying it will cause “severe and irreparable harm not only to Appellants but to innocent nonparties and employees who depend on the affected entities for their livelihoods.”

The appeals court has scheduled oral arguments for Friday at 3 p.m. ET.

New York Supreme Court Judge Engoron ruled that Trump and his co-defendants committed “persistent and repeated fraud,” and must cancel business certificates for many Trump entities,

The “Supreme Court clearly does not comprehend the scope of the chaos its decision has wrought,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.

This should be a no-go, as it is premature.

Having said that, once the final judgment rolls around, I fully expect either the trial or appellate court to enter a stay pending appeal.

[much ado]

Having said that, once the final judgment rolls around, I fully expect either the trial or appellate court to enter a stay pending appeal.

Any ballpark guess about how long the appeal will take?

[bob]

Any ballpark guess about how long the appeal will take?

My WAG would be at least a year. And if there's a stay, the defendants have every incentive to delay.

[Kendra]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/06/politics ... index.html

A New York appeals court judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to stop the ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial, but temporarily halted the process of breaking up his businesses.

Associate Justice Peter Moulton issued the ruling after a brief hearing Friday afternoon.

Trump asked the appeals court to put the civil fraud trial on hold pending the appeal of Judge Arthur Engoron’s surprise summary judgment order last week that said the former president is liable for fraud. Trump also asked to put the underlying ruling itself on hold, saying it will cause “severe and irreparable harm not only to Appellants but to innocent nonparties and employees who depend on the affected entities for their livelihoods.”

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

So, pretty much what we predicted a week or so ago.

What surprises me is that the judge has ordered the instant cancellation of the certificates of incorporation before there's been a determination of what procedure to follow for winding up the Trump companies -- or indeed, whether an appeals court has passed on whether the drastic step of corporate cancellation rather than a lesser penalty is appropriate. Both the finding of liability and the decision as to remedy will receive a good deal of attention from the Appellate Division, and likely also from the Court of Appeals.

I think I'm on safe ground in predicting that at least re remedy portion of the order will be stayed pending appeal by the Appellate Division.

I'm going to go further and state that a stay pending appeal is the right and proper action to take. Although I could see something put into place to prevent the transfer of assets during appeal.

That may be covered.
Screenshot 2023-09-26 at 2.46.37 PM.png

[chancery]

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef ... MchhA3Ng==

Defendants' application for an interim stay of enforcement of Supreme Court's decisions dated September 26 and October 4, 2023, and for a stay of trial, is granted solely to to the extent of staying enforcement of Supreme Court's order directing the cancellation of business certificates. The interim application is denied in all other respects.

Predictable and reasonable.

[chancery]

https://twitter.com/frankrunyeon/status ... 7352110439

Update! Trumps fails to halt trial BUT wins a stay, freezing Justice Engoron’s moves to dissolve his businesses.

Worth noting that the AG was already quietly offering to hold off on dissolving businesses, before Trump ran to the appellate court this afternoon.

I must say I'm surprised and a little disappointed that Judge Engoron didn't grant a stay on his own. Not a great look.

I assume that Trump's lawyers requested a stay from him first, because you hafta ask the trial court first before you can ask an appellate court for a stay. And I suppose I could look it up, but not right now.

[Sam the Centipede]

I must say I'm surprised and a little disappointed that Judge Engoron didn't grant a stay on his own. Not a great look.

I considered asking the question about why Engoron didn't include a start in the original order, but instead guessed that the answer might be that it's usual to require the persecuted victim defendant to request the stay! don't ask, don't get.

What is the usual convention? Enny fule kan sii that a case like this will never have compliant losing defendants!

[raison de arizona]

Official statement, I guess. Someone gave Eric the reins.
https://twitter.com/EricTrump/status/17 ... 03388?s=20

We thank the Appellate Division for staying the NY Attorney General’s and Judge Engoron’s overzealous attempt to cancel our New York business certificates. Judge Engoron’s order erroneously sought to adjudicate the rights of non-party business entities that employ nearly 1,000 hard-working New Yorkers, have never been accused of any wrongdoing and, were never given their day in court – in clear violation of their fundamental Constitutional rights and Due Process. We will continue to vigorously defend our company and our incredible employees from this politically-motivated persecution.

- The Trump Organization

[raison de arizona]

https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/17103 ... 95326?s=20

BREAKING:

Ex-Trump exec Jeff McConney admits ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg asked for help in committing tax fraud — on more than one occasion.
@MSNBC

[chancery]

I must say I'm surprised and a little disappointed that Judge Engoron didn't grant a stay on his own. Not a great look.

I considered asking the question about why Engoron didn't include a start in the original order, but instead guessed that the answer might be that it's usual to require the persecuted victim defendant to request the stay! don't ask, don't get.

You are entirely correct. "Don't ask, don't get" is a litigation truism.

So I downloaded and glanced at Trump's 1,154 page application to the Appellate Division.

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef ... W1eksEpQ==

Screen Shot from trump application for a stay.png (226.22 KiB) Viewed 966 times

Well, well, well. Here's a screenshot from the Trump defendants' application to the Appellate Division for a stay of the trial and a stay of the order canceling the business certificates. The form instructs them to state whether the relief requested from the Appellate Division had previously been requested from the trial court.

So it looks like the answer is that the only stay request that they made of Judge Engoron was to stay the trial. And that was back in September when they asked him to stay the trial because he hadn't decided the summary judgment motions yet.

They never asked him to stay his order cancelling the certificates pending appeal.

There was a hearing on September 28, during which the Judge and counsel discussed some of the practical issues of implementing the order. The transcript is included Exhibit O. Everybody at the hearing seemed to agree that Judge Barbara Jones was the person for the job. And the Judge opened the hearing by stating that the 10-day period for cancellation was arbitrary and "sua sponte" extended the period to 30 days. So not only did defendants not request a stay, it was clear that the judge was not being absolutist about implementation of his order.

So the current application for a stay appears to be procedurally improper for lack of a prior request in the trial court (or a showing that such a request would be futile or not possible in the time available.)

A federal court would likely have tossed the application on this basis. New York courts can be very unfussy when want to , and it appears that the Appellate Division wasn't bothered by a lack of prior application.

So I take back my criticism of Judge Engoron for denying a stay, because Trump's lawyers never requested one.

Disclaimer: I only glanced at this massive pile of papers, so I could have missed something.

[Flatpoint High]

Was the pile steaming?

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

https://twitter.com/frankrunyeon/status ... 7352110439

Update! Trumps fails to halt trial BUT wins a stay, freezing Justice Engoron’s moves to dissolve his businesses.

Worth noting that the AG was already quietly offering to hold off on dissolving businesses, before Trump ran to the appellate court this afternoon.

I must say I'm surprised and a little disappointed that Judge Engoron didn't grant a stay on his own. Not a great look.

I assume that Trump's lawyers requested a stay from him first, because you hafta ask the trial court first before you can ask an appellate court for a stay. And I suppose I could look it up, but not right now.

Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence.

Sustained (as chancery themself proved)

[Kendra]

Jason Johnson was in for Ari Melber on MSNBC today. LOL he had Eli Mystal (sp?) on to talk about the DA and tfg's claims about racial bias and LOL Eli went on a rant about yeah, there's bias against an orange guy and I can't recall the rest, but worth watching. Jason couldn't keep a straight face.