General Discussion

Last edited Sat Mar 9, 2024, 02:18 PM - Edit history (1)

I've dealt with appeal bonds on multiple occasions in my forty-plus years as an attorney and none of them have had costs that high, even when the recipient of the bond doesn't have assets close to those Trump has.

A couple of examples: in a patent infringement case, Ericsson won a judgment of over $132 million against TCL Commc'n Tech. The cost of the supersedeas bond obtained by TCL to stay paying that judgment pending appeal was $1,124,491.74/year - less than 1 percent. And the cost of the corporate guarantee paid to get the supersedeas bond was around $600,000 --- for a total of around 1.3%.

Another example: in the Exxon Valdez litigation, the original award of damages was $5 billion dollars. Exxon paid $60 million to obtain a supersedeas bond pending its appeal -- around 1.2%

While Trump may have paid more than that, there is no chance he paid 10 times that amount. And E. Jean Carroll should be very concerned if Trump did pay a lot more than that because, heaven forbid, Trump wins his appeal, she could be on the hook to reimburse Trump for the cost of obtaining the supersedeas bond. See Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 39 ( e ):

e) Costs on Appeal Taxable in the District Court. The following costs on appeal are taxable in the district court for the benefit of the party entitled to costs under this rule:
(1) the preparation and transmission of the record;
(2) the reporter's transcript, if needed to determine the appeal;
(3) premiums paid for a bond or other security to preserve rights pending appeal; and
(4) the fee for filing the notice of appeal.