E. Jean Carroll, the former magazine columnist who accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s, on Thursday filed a second lawsuit against Trump for battery and defamation.
The filing arrived just minutes after a new New York state law — the Adult Survivors Act — went into effect. The law allows adult victims a one-year window to file a claim regarding a sexual assault incident that may have occurred years ago. Carroll was previously unable to sue over the alleged rape because too many years had passed, The Associated Press reports; she instead sued Trump for defamation after he denied the allegations, saying Carroll was "not my type."
The suit filed Thursday seeks to hold the former president accountable for the rape accusations, and also "alleges a new defamation claim based on statements Trump made last month," CNN notes.
Carroll is requesting compensatory, punitive, and exemplary damages, and is also asking a judge to order Trump to retract the defamatory statements.
In his recent statement, Trump said Carroll "completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City department store and, within minutes, 'swooned' her. It is a hoax and a lie, just like all the other hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years."