ABC News was wise to settle defamation suit with Trump to avoid 'embarrassing' discovery, legal experts say
Experts feel ABC was smart to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by President-elect Donald Trump before a potentially damaging and embarrassing discovery process.
ABC News was "smart" to pony up $15 million last week to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by President-elect Donald Trump before tedious depositions and a potentially damaging discovery process, according to legal experts.
Trump sued ABC News and George Stephanopoulos after the anchor repeatedly insisted he was found "liable for rape" during a tense exchange with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., earlier this year on his Sunday program "This Week." Stephanopoulos repeated that claim ten times during his spat with Mace, despite the fact that a jury actually determined Trump was liable for "sexual abuse," which has a distinct definition under New York law.
The surprising settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing that the two parties have come to an agreement and avoided a costly trial. ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a "Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past." Additionally, the network will pay $1 million in Trump's attorney fees.
Attorney Danny Karon, a law professor and operator of the legal wellness website Your Lovable Lawyer, believes Disney-owned ABC News made the right decision.
"As dumb as George Stephanopoulos was to lie on air about Trump’s civil verdict, ABC News was that smart to settle," Karon told Fox News Digital. "Channeled through the elements of a defamation claim, the facts supported a verdict for President Trump. And the longer into a case the parties go, the greater the stakes become, which often results in larger money damages. That ABC News was able to evade a jury verdict for only $15 million is something for this it should thank President Trump."
"It settled now because Trump and George Stephanopoulos were scheduled to be deposed this week. Whether it’s a function of discomfort, scheduling, or timing, no one likes to be deposed," Karon continued.
An ex-ABC insider told Fox News Digital the network was wise to settle the suit, saying the Stephanopoulos emails that would emerge in discovery would likely be "very damaging."
Attorney Andrew Stoltmann said that is exactly why ABC News would reach a settlement.
"They didn’t want to open up the kimono, so to speak, with respect to discovery," Stoltmann told Fox News Digital.
"There likely would’ve been a tsunami of bad emails and text messages that would’ve been revealed that would’ve fed into the incoming president’s argument that it is biased against him," Stoltmann added. "Also, President Trump had a very good technical legal argument that he was defamed. There’s a common-sense perception that he was found guilty civilly of rape, but that simply isn’t the case."
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, noted that the settlement came after U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid ordered depositions.
"That discovery was likely to prove more embarrassing for the network than it would Trump and could have revealed internal messages on the controversy," Turley wrote.
Attorney Randall M. Kessler, a trial professor at Emory Law School, agrees that ABC News was wise to avoid the discovery process.
"Settlement absolutely prevented disclosure, by each side, of documents, communications, texts, emails, recordings and other evidence that could have been much more damaging to either side than what is already out there," Kessler told Fox News Digital.
Trump suggested on Monday that he would continue to hold news organizations accountable, including CBS’ "60 Minutes," the Des Moines Register and the Pulitzer Prize Board, each of which he has specific beefs with, although those potential cases are unlikely to bear financial fruit. But Karon doesn’t believe ABC’s settlement will pave the way for additional defamation claims.
"Defamation claims are so ubiquitous that I don’t think President Trump’s case paved the road for more. If anything, Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard paved the way in making defamation claims relatable and accessible," Karon said.
"The View," ABC's staunchly anti-Trump daytime talk show, has frequently been forced to read legal notes on the air while speculating about Trump's various legal issues over the years. The former ABC insider suggested the show hosts should tread "very carefully" in the wake of the suit against their colleague.
OWLawyers senior shareholder Michelle O’Neil feels that ABC News actually "saved Stephanopolous’ entire career" by settling the lawsuit.
"Stephanopolous would have been raked over the coals as a sloppy reporter at best, or a liar at worst, through discovery, deposition, trial – and in court of public opinion – if the case had continued down the litigation pipe," O’Neil told Fox News Digital.
O’Neil said that if the case went forward, Trump’s lawyers would have been able to pursue whether there was actual negative intent on Stephanopoulos’ part.
"Whether he intentionally made the claim of ‘rape’ on purpose knowing that what he said was untrue. If there was evidence of that, the case would have gone way worse for ABC," she said.
Attorney Parker Stinar, a Founding Partner at Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley, said the settlement underscores a crucial lesson.
"Words carry significant weight," Stinar told Fox News Digital.
"The misrepresentation, whether intentional or not, has led to substantial financial repercussions and damaged ABC's reputation," Stinar said. "Typically, parties opt for settlements to mitigate the risk of potentially larger jury verdicts, demonstrating that Trump effectively leveraged his position to secure a maximized settlement outcome."
Media and communications expert Tobe Berkovitz, a Professor Emeritus at Boston University, echoed that ABC clearly didn’t want discovery.
"The last thing ABC wanted was for the American voter viewer to see what Stephanopoulos texts, emails. That I think would have been a debacle, and I think they had to settle rather than have that happen," Berkovitz told Fox News Digital.
As part of the settlement, Stephanopoulos and ABC News also had to issue statements of "regret" as an editor's note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article, about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to file the defamation lawsuit.
"ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024," the note reads.
ABC News previously said the network was "pleased" to have concluded the case.
"We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing," an ABC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
ABC News did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
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Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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