Court rejects Trump’s motion to halt defamation case from ex-‘Apprentice’ contestant

A New York appeals court rejected President Trump’s motion on Thursday to halt a former “Apprentice” contestant’s defamation case against him.

The New York Daily News reported that the one-page order allowed Summer Zervos, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” to move forward with a lawsuit asserting that Trump damaged her reputation.

{mosads}Zervos was one of nearly a dozen women who came forward during the 2016 presidential race to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct. Trump has denied the allegations and accused Zervos of lying.

Trump filed a motion to stay the lawsuit, arguing that he was constitutionally protected from being sued while he serves as president. 

“Now, upon reading and filing the papers with respect to the motion, and due deliberation having been had thereon, it is ordered that the motion is denied,” the court wrote in its four-sentence ruling.

Trump’s lawyers had requested the freeze until an appeals court decided whether the president can be sued in a state court, The Associated Press reported. That decision will likely come this fall. 

In the meantime, Zervos’s lawyer can continue demanding that Trump give a deposition and turn over documents while the case proceeds. 

A New York state Supreme Court justice ruled in March that Trump’s presidential office does not give him immunity and allowed the lawsuit to proceed.  

Three days before Trump was inaugurated in January 2017, Zervos filed a defamation lawsuit alleging that she and her business were damaged after his derogatory statements.

Earlier this month, Zervos issued subpoenas to MGM and The Beverly Hills Hotel to collect records supporting her claim that Trump groped her in 2007.