The New York Times's headquarters building is seen in New York City on December 17, 2024. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
A federal judge in a scathing ruling on Friday, September 19, tossed out US President Donald Trump's $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times. District Judge Steven Merryday said Trump's complaint, as submitted, was "improper and impermissible," and he gave his lawyers 28 days to refile it "in a professional and dignified manner."
Merryday, an appointee of Republican President George HW Bush, did not rule on the merits of the complaint against the newspaper, but he took exception to its florid writing, repetitive and laudatory praise of Trump and its excessive 85-page length.
"A complaint is a short, plain, direct statement of allegations of fact sufficient to create a facially plausible claim for relief," Merryday said. "Although lawyers receive a modicum of expressive latitude in pleading the claim of a client, the complaint in this action extends far beyond the outer bound of that latitude."
"A complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective," the judge said, and "not a protected platform to rage against an adversary."
