Judge Tosses Trump’s $15B Suit Against NYT

A Florida federal judge tossed President Trump‘s $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times Friday for being too long, writing in a blistering decision that a civil complaint shouldn’t be “a megaphone for public relations.”

Tampa US District Judge Steven D. Merryday gave Trump 28 days to file a new, shorter version of the complaint that “must not exceed” 40 pages in length.

“Alleging only two simple counts of defamation, the complaint consumes eighty-five pages,” wrote Merryday, appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush.

“Even assuming that each allegation in the complaint is true … — a complaint remains an improper and impermissible place for the tedious and burdensome aggregation of prospective evidence, for the rehearsal of tendentious arguments, or for the protracted recitation and explanation of legal authority putatively supporting the pleader’s claim for relief.”

Merryday continued, later adding: “A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner.”