COURTS/LAWSUIT/NEW YORK/SEX ABUSE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WOMEN: “A New York appeals court on Thursday [3-14-19] rejected President Trump’s argument that the Constitution makes him immune from state lawsuits, clearing the way for a defamation suit from a former contestant on ‘The Apprentice’ who has said Mr. Trump groped her. The five-judge panel in Manhattan ruled that Summer Zervos, who competed on Mr. Trump’s reality game show, could go forward with her lawsuit, which she filed after Mr. Trump said her claims that he had groped and kissed her against her will were lies. The 3-to-2 ruling upholds a lower-court decision from a year ago that similarly concluded the president could be sued in state court while in office for actions unrelated to his official duties…Ms. Zervos and nine other women claimed during the presidential campaign in 2016 that Mr. Trump had engaged in sexual misconduct. Ms. Zervos said Mr. Trump twice forced himself on her in 2007: in a job interview in Trump Tower in Manhattan, and during a meeting in Los Angeles.
–Sarah Maslin Nir, “Trump Can Be Sued for Defamation by Summer Zervos, ‘Apprentice’ Contestant, Court Rules,” The New York Times online, March 14, 2019