Summer Zervos loses bid to bring other Trump accusers into defamation suit

A former The Apprentice contestant who accused Donald Trump of defaming her by denying her claim that he kissed and groped her against her will before he became U.S. president has lost a motion to get evidence related to accusations against him by other women.

Justice Jennifer Schecter of the New York state court in Manhattan on Friday ruled that Trump must turn over evidence and answer questions related directly to the former contestant, Summer Zervos. However, that evidence does not include that linked to claims involving other women — what's called propensity evidence — that are "factually completely unrelated to her and her claim."

Zervos appeared on the fifth season, in 2006, of the show headed by Trump when he was a reality show star.

She alleges Trump kissed her against her will at a 2007 meeting in his New York office, and later groped her in a Beverly Hills hotel at a meeting about a possible job.

She was one of several women to come forward to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct after he declared his candidacy for president. Many of them came forward late in the 2016 campaign after the discovery of a years-old Access Hollywood tape in which he bragged of grabbing and groping women.

"These claims are all fabricated," Trump said at an October 2016 rally. "They're pure fiction and they're outright lies."

Deposition of Trump possible

Zervos initiated her legal action as a result, arguing that Trump's forceful denials amounted to defamation and that being branded a liar caused customers to stay away from her restaurant in California.

Trump's legal team earlier this year was unable to get the lawsuit tossed with an argument that he was immune from being sued because of the office he currently occupies.

Schecter rejected the argument, writing in her ruling: "No one is above the law."

If the suit proceeds, it is conceivable that Trump would have to make a deposition under oath, something that hasn't happened with respect to the special counsel investigation into co-ordination and contacts between members of his campaign and transition teams and Russian officials.

Christine Montenegro, a lawyer for Trump, said at Friday's hearing that Trump intended to fight the lawsuit by proving the allegations were false.