The Trump reality show continues …

Posted on Mar 13, 2018 in Business Litigation

Donald Trump is in the middle of yet another “storm,” this time by name. That is, adult film star Stormy Daniels sued Donald Trump Tuesday, alleging that he failed to sign the nondisclosure agreement that was meant to shut her up Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the Complaint alleges that her agreement not to disclose her “intimate” relationship with the President is unenforceable because while both Daniels and Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen signed it, Trump did not. Daniels alleges she signed both the agreement – termed the “Hush Agreement” — and a side letter agreement using her professional name on October 28, 2016, just days before the 2016 presidential election. But the Hush Agreement, appended to the lawsuit that refers to Trump as David Dennison, and Clifford as Peggy Peterson, is one-sided. In the side letter agreement, the true identity of Trump is blacked out, but Clifford’s attorney says the individual is Trump. Each document includes a blank where “DD” is supposed to sign, but neither blank is signed.

The Complaint alleges that Trump and Daniels had an intimate sexual relationship from the summer of 2006 well into 2017. The relationship allegedly included meetings at the Beverly Hills Hotel and in Lake Tahoe. It seeks to void the Hush Agreement. The Hush Agreement directed that $130,000 be paid into the trust account of Daniel’s then-attorney. In return, Daniels was not to disclose any confidential information about Trump or his sexual partners to anyone beyond a short list of individuals she’d already told about the relationship, or share any texts or photos from Trump.
The suit alleges that Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, tried to silence Daniels from talking about the relationship as recently as Feb. 27, 2018.

Daniels and her attorney are asking the Los Angeles County Superior Court to declare that both the hush agreement and the side agreement “were never formed, and therefore do not exist, because, among other things, Mr. Trump never signed the agreements.” In the alternative, Daniels seeks an order declaring that the agreements are “invalid, unenforceable, and/or void under the doctrine of unconscionability.”

The suit also says that Trump must know that Cohen is trying to silence Clifford, since rules for the New York bar, of which Cohen is a member, require him to keep his client informed at all times. “[I]t strains credulity to conclude that Mr. Cohen is acting on his own accord and without the express approval and knowledge of his client Mr. Trump.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Trump’s outside attorney, John Dowd, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

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