A California judge on Tuesday ordered porn star, Stephanie Clifford popularly known as Stormy Daniels to pay President Donald Trump nearly $293,000 for his attorneys’ fees and another $1,000 in sanctions after her defamation suit against him was dismissed.
Trump’s attorney, Charles Harder had requested nearly $390,000 in fees and equal amount in sanctions as a deterrent against a repeat filer of frivolous defamation cases but Judge S. James Otero cut the requested legal fees by 25 percent and awarded just $1,000 in sanctions.
Otero previously noted that fees by Harder’s firm which were as high as $840 an hour were reasonable but argued that the 580 hours the firm claimed it has spent on the case appeared excessive.
Daniels had alleged that she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and was paid $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement days before the 2016 presidential election. She sued him for defamation after he dismissed her claims of being threatened to keep quiet about the alleged affair. The judge threw out the case in October.
However Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti tweeted on Tuesday that the court’s order ‘will never hold up on appeal’.
He predicted that the 39-year-old porn star will never have to pay a dime because she will receive as much as $1 million from Trump for attorneys’ fees and other costs related to a separate lawsuit which Daniels filed in Los Angeles over the non-disclosure agreement.
Daniels is challenging the agreement she signed with Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen to prevent her from discussing the alleged affair. The agreement was signed days before the 2016 election as part of a $130,000 hush-money settlement.
She also had alleged that her former lawyer, Keith Davidson colluded with Cohen to have her publicly deny the affair with Trump.
Cohen has pleaded guilty to several felonies and admitted sending money to Daniels to keep her quiet about the affair. Although Trump has denied the affair, he has acknowledged the payment to Daniels.
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