Porn star Stormy Daniels must 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, a federal judge in Los Angeles ordered Tuesday.
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.”
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 — as high as $840 an hour — were reasonable but the 580 hours spent on the case appeared excessive.
Daniels alleges 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 tryst as a “total con job.” The judge threw out the case in October.
Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, tweeted Tuesday’s order “will never hold up on appeal.”
