A federal judge tossed out Donald Trump‘s $15 billion lawsuit against The New York Times, declaring that the 85-page complaint was “improper and impermissible.”
The federal judge, Steven Merryday, will allow Trump’s lawyers to file a new complaint within 28 days that does not exceed 48 pages.
Citing court rules, Merryday wrote, “This complaint stands unmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements of Rule 8. This action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules
of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner.”
Trump filed the lawsuit against the Times earlier this week in federal court. The lawsuit read like a gallery of grievances against the Times, even taking issue with a reference made by New York Times reporters Susanne Craig and Ross Buettner that Trump’s celenrity fame was due to Mark Burnett and The Apprentice.
The lawsuit claimed that the Times, its reporters and publisher Penguin “maliciously peddled the
fact-free narrative that Burnett somehow ‘discovered’ President Trump for ‘The Apprentice’ and magically transformed him into a celebrity—even though at and prior to the time of publication Defendants knew that President Trump was already a mega-celebrity and an enormous success in business.” The lawsuit pointed out that Trump already had appeared in movies like Home Alone 2.
Merryday was not pleased.
“As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective — not a protected platform to rage against an adversary,” he wrote. “A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner.”
More to come.