The judge’s order was issued Monday, but was posted online Friday by Clifford’s lawyers.
Clifford prosecuted Trump in 2018, and sought to become free from the NDA. In response, Trump and his out-of-court legal team agreed not to prosecute or otherwise enforce the NDA. The suit was dismissed and Clifford’s claims had to be ruled out, as the NDA was made unpredictable.
Monday’s decision was in response to Clifford’s attempt to be reimbursed for costs and legal fees related to the case.
In his ruling this week, Judge Robert Broadbelt III ruled that Clifford was entitled to legal fees, and found her the ‘ruling party’ under California law, despite the case being dismissed.
Broadbelt also denied an argument by Trump’s lawyers that the president was not liable for the fees because he had not signed the NDA.
In its decision, Broadbelt wrote that since Trump Cohen had reimbursed the $ 130,000 payment to Clifford, and since Trump’s legal team had previously ruled that a defamation suit filed against the president by Clifford should be handled by an arbitrator per the NDA, the president was effectively a party to the agreement.
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