Trump hits judicial jackpot in $10 billion defamation lawsuit against BBC

President Donald Trump whitethorn find a welcoming assemblage arsenic helium sues the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for immoderate $10 billion.

On Monday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida took up the lawsuit stylized arsenic Trump v. British Broadcasting Corporation, a defamation lawsuit premised connected a "Panorama" documentary astir the 45th and 47th president.

In emblematic fashion, the lawsuit was assigned to a justice by mode of the Southern District's ain interior randomized enactment process. And that intentional process whitethorn person inured to the president's benefit.

By the rotation of a wheel, U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman, appointed by Trump during his archetypal term, was enactment successful complaint of the case.

Love existent crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life transgression stories delivered close to your inbox.

When assigning national cases to national judges, nary wide process is observed passim the country. Rather, enactment is typically handled by each tribunal astatine the section level — and explained via published rules oregon a lasting order. Case duty successful the archetypal instance, however, is astir ever made to execute a random result.

The court's internal operating procedures explain:

(a) All civilian and transgression cases, including those wrong a weighted category, shall beryllium assigned connected a unsighted random ground truthful that the District workload is reasonably and arsenic distributed among the progressive Judges irrespective of assemblage division; provided that, whenever indispensable successful the involvement of justness and expediency, the Court whitethorn modify the assignments made to progressive oregon elder Judges.

(b) The Clerk of the Court shall not person immoderate powerfulness oregon discretion successful determining the Judge to whom immoderate enactment oregon proceeding is assigned, the Clerk of the Court's duties being ministerial only. The method of duty shall guarantee that the individuality of the assigned Judge shall not beryllium disclosed to the Clerk of the Court nor to immoderate different person, until aft filing.

(c) The duty docket shall beryllium designed to forestall immoderate litigant from choosing the Judge to whom an enactment oregon proceeding is to beryllium assigned, and each attorneys shall conscientiously refrain from attempting to alteration this Local Rule.

Another conception of the above-referenced papers explains that "the transgression and civilian wheels were consolidated" arsenic of January 2002.

"The civilian A & B wheels are combined into a azygous instrumentality from which each caller civilian cases, but for superior habeas petitions, volition present beryllium assigned," the court's rules read. "The transgression categories I-II, III, IV, and V wheels are likewise consolidated into a azygous transgression instrumentality from which each caller transgression cases volition present beryllium assigned."

A law reappraisal nonfiction from 2014 explains however tribunal systems utilizing the instrumentality method for randomized enactment usage an existent wheel.

"[A]fter a lawsuit is filed, carnal and literal woody wheels, filled with scale cards upon which the names of each territory justice is printed, rotation astir and around, until the tribunal clerk approaches the instrumentality and randomly draws a card, frankincense selecting the justice who volition preside implicit the just-filed case," the nonfiction reads.

Two large updates — not truly changes — person been made to the "random assignment" of cases successful the Southern District successful caller years.

In a May 2024 order, the tribunal established a multi-step strategy for cases "where the remedy sought has implications beyond the parties and the section community" tin beryllium rapidly reassigned connected the question of a enactment — astatine the first-assigned judge's discretion.

In March of this year, the tribunal issued an bid providing that magistrate judges volition beryllium assigned to oversee each non-prisoner cases filed by pro se litigants — radical who are representing themselves.

While the upshot of the 2nd regularisation update is clear, the earlier update whitethorn yet person immoderate salience should the BBC determine to effort its luck and determination to person Altman replaced by different judge.

Still, the British authorities media outlet would by nary means person a definite happening should it effort to get a non-Trump-appointed justice successful the high-profile defamation battle; six of the 18 progressive judges successful the Southern District were appointed by the existent president.