1y ago

"Trump doesn't have an appeal": Experts say Trump may fire lawyer after being "burned very severely"

www.salon.com

Legal experts skewered Alina Habba's "comedy of bumbling errors" in Trump defamation trial

Former President Donald Trump's appeal of the $83.3 million verdict in the defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll is unlikely to succeed, legal experts say.

"Let me ruin the suspense for everyone. Trump doesn't have an appeal," Nashville lawyer Brian Manookian argued Friday. "I know the talking heads on TV who have never tried a case or appealed a jury verdict have to mention it. Here's why it isn't going to fly."

A person must "preserve a reversible error at the trial level" in order to have a case with merit on appeal, Manookian explained, ultimately blaming Trump's lack thereof on his legal team in the case.

"This is why you hire competent counsel. You need someone who actually knows the rules of evidence and procedure," he said. "Alina Habba had no clue what was occurring throughout the trial. She not only failed to preserve any remote grounds for appeal, like a moron, she repeatedly and unintentionally waived them over and over."

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"I do think part of the rough week he had was having chosen a counsel who doesn't seem to have any, not just chops, but judgment about how you try a case like this when it's already been established[,]and you may not quibble that your client has sexually assaulted the plaintiff and then lied about it."
Shitheads in Ohio be like, “Imma vote for him!” Because corporate journalism has failed catastrophically.
- Stop blaming the media.
  When he said he liked soldiers who didn't get captured, the main stream media reported it. When the pussy grabber tape came out the media was all over it. They played the tapes of him talking about perving on the Miss Teen USA contestants.
  I saw one of his defenders on The View. One of the panelists kept repeating 'grab the pussy' over and over. The woman who was supporting Trump asked her not to use that offensive language.
  The media reported and the MAGoos decided it didn't matter.
  
  Stop absolving the media. They absolutely have some culpability here for treating whackjobs with the same credulity they treat scientists, treating existential threats against democracy as if they're a normal part of the political horse race, and otherwise perpetuating habitual and systemic balance fallacies on a massive scale. The "MAGoos" didn't just go off the deep end on their own; the media helped mislead them straight off it.
  
  Exactly, we all know what terrible person he is because of this.
Looks like typical DJT operating procedures. Hire incompetence and then blame the system for their incompetence. I used to do high stakes litigation. We would have an attorney on our trial team whose only responsibility was preserving error. I wonder if DJT will sue her for malpractice. That would probably make her extra sad for servicing his tiny mushroom.
- We gotta end small-dick hate, homedog.
  
  I don't hate small dicks. I hate people who act like massive assholes because they have small dicks.
- Would he have some kind of case for appeal due to incompetent counsel?
  
  No. In a criminal case, but not in a civil lawsuit.
  
  Not in a civil trial, from what I'm hearing, but IANAL.
- Lmao you’re right she had a RoG laptop at the start of it
  
  And it wasn’t even hers. The gaming laptop belonged to the court and was used for the live transcript feed.
- I'm surprised how noteworthy people find this
  
  Because it's funny either way.
  Is she a legitimate attorney who is also a gamer and uses the same laptop for work so she can squeeze in some Rocket League during court recesses?
  Or is she technologically incompetent, and bought an expensive laptop she didn't realize was the wrong tool for the job? She's proven she's incompetent as a lawyer, being unsavvy with tech is just icing on that cake.
  Or maybe it's her nephew's gaming rig, and she's borrowing it for her big court case.
  
  I'm sure she just asked IT for the most powerful laptop she could get, and IT just shrugged and got out the corporate card. Or she games in her time off. Who knows, who cares.
  
  It just doesn't look professional. You don't need a big GPU and RGB lights to open a web browser and PDF files.
You get what you pay for 🤫
- The funny part is, he lost the case so he is famous for stiffing the lawyers.
  She is going to have to sue him for the payment. That's gonna be very funny to see.
  
  I hope she hires a decent lawyer
Can he call for an appeal or mistrial based on inadequate legal protection or ineffective assistance of council?
Is that a thing?
- Not in a civil trial. That's only for criminal trials.
  
  Cool, thanks
  
  Won't stop him from trying. Delay, delay, delay
  
  You can appeal civil cases. Happens all the time. You constantly hear "jury awarded 1 billion dollars but was reduced to 50 dollars on appeals."
  https://www.law.com/dailyreportonline/2023/12/07/what-if-the-jury-awarded-1b-ga-appellate-court-weighs-maximum-for-nominal-damages/?slreturn=20240030084445
  Is there an upper limit for a jury award of nominal damages? The Georgia Court of Appeals is set to weigh in after Walmart, represented by attorneys from Florida-based firm GrayRobinson, appealed a $1 million personal injury verdict on Tuesday, arguing the jury awarded nothing for pain, suffering or medical losses and $1 million is not a “trivial amount”—even if the defendant is Walmart.
- I think it can be argued by a competent appeals attorney but the likes of them working with Trump at this end-game are 0.
Then I want to thank Alina Habba for helping to preserve a chance for democracy in the US.
- she was pretending to be smart.
Would I be a bigot if I were to observe that she probably wouldn't be trumps lawyer if she were an overweight balding middle aged male?
- No because you're not judging anyone but trump
- Are you referring to Rudy Giuliani? Because he was also incompetent.
  
  No no no, he said "middle aged". Ghouliani is clearly much older.
Lol. Let's see if she gets paid.
- I'd say what kind of professional wouldn't get payment upfront from Trump these days, but
- Someone, in an aside to a comment on Reddit a few days ago, seemed to suggest she was prepaid $2.5MM. I haven’t looked up to confirm.
But people here on Lemmy have told me repeatedly that she isn't stupid and that she was creatively doing Trump's bidding! As recently as yesterday!
Do you mean to tell me she is stupid?!
- Well, to be fair, it’s quite possible for her to be both stupid AND doing Trump’s bidding. It’s not like he is firing on all cylinders, the guy brags about being able to pick out a whale from a from a lineup of fruits and vegetables.
- I don’t think she’s a good lawyer, but I also don’t think she’s stupid. I would call her shrewd. She’s exactly where she wants to be, if her end goal is more than 15 minutes of fame (which it seems to be, given that radio show). If trump sues her, she can just extend her time in the spotlight. If not, she can always sue him for nonpayment herself
- Like she's a total bimbo though, it's so obvious...
  
  She did have to pass the bar at some point I'd imagine. She can't be completely dumb. A reverse Elle Woods maybe
  
  Hey, I've said she's an evil manipulative bitch, not a bimbo.
  That doesn't make her a good lawyer though.
  
  You would think.
Reminder that Trump could have used the more competent Christopher Kise for this.
I guess pretending to be smart didn't work out so well for Habba this time.
- It's possible that Christopher Kise is competent enough to not want anything to do with this case.
  Of course, it's also possible that he's just as much of a dumbass, too....
  https://newrepublic.com/post/176656/trump-idiot-lawyer-kise-gag-order-fraud-trial
Well, I've never found Trump appealing... 🥁🥁🥁
Obviously he'll fire his lawyer, he goes through them like most people go through tissues.
History tells us that he's also not going to pay her and will probably be a person of interest when she's charged with a felony.
This is gold Jerry, freaking gold.
It feels like Trump always hires incompetent lawyers so he and his media cronies can cry foul when it inevitably goes south. That's not how the legal system works. I type this while I await jury duty.
- It's because nobody competent will work for him. The few competent people who are soulless enough have already been fired, quit, left unpaid, etc... I wonder if there's a comprehensive list somewhere. It's a dozen-plus, at this point, I think?

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