At least 422 people involved with Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign for president who signed infamous nondisclosure and/or non-disparagement agreements that limited their legal abilities to speak publicly about their experiences will now be seeing what appears to be a settlement formalizing the elimination of those agreements, Bloomberg reports.
The settlement is connected to litigation past Trump campaign staffer Jessica Denson filed all the way back in 2017 alleging that she was the victim of harassment and discrimination while working for Trump. The now past president’s team countered with a legal challenge on the basis of the existence of a nondisclosure agreement, or NDA, covering her time on the campaign, but that line of rhetorical attack didn’t work out for Trump. A federal judge ruled in 2021 against the legitimacy of the underlying agreements, and Denson subsequently sought court approval for the presentation of a class-action challenge. Trump (through his team) opposed this, eventually notifying those originally subject to NDAs from the 2016 campaign they wouldn’t be seeking enforcement of them anymore.
Pointedly, Bloomberg notes an argument in reply from Denson’s lawyers that these statements by the Trump team weren’t legally binding and thus left an opening for further substantive action. And now, there’s a settlement. Those now set for a judge to formally lift legal restrictions on their comments about their time with Trump — assuming the push works out — include volunteers and contractors, besides staff. The earlier ruling by a federal judge against the legitimacy of the NDAs only applied to Denson, a letter from her legal team to the judge who’d decide whether to approve the settlement notes. If approved, the agreement would evidently entail the judicial certification of the involvement of a recognized class such as would be involved in a class-action case but only for the purpose of the agreement, which would expressly bar seeking enforcement of the challenged provisions by the campaign or any third-party interest.
The letter also discusses the application of the judicial rules mandating that the settlement be approved by a judge. The rules help protect the interests of other members of the legally defined class. (Denson’s legal team focused on how imposing the agreement would expand the legal rights held by these people, since they would be free to make otherwise potentially restricted statements about Trump.) The settlement arrangement also includes monetary awards to Denson and her team covering, at least in part, attorneys’ fees. The amounts of these payments by the Trump team were obscured in a publicly available copy of recently filed court documents. “It is hugely significant in restoring to these individuals — who should have never been silenced — the freedom to speak the truth to the American people,” Denson said. Available information indicates the outlines of the settlement arrangement were agreed to in a conference held back in mid-December.
