Jones v. Clinton
On May 6. 1994 (17 years ago today) former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed a lawsuit against President Bill Clinton, alleging that he had sexually harassed her in 1991.
According to Jones, on May 8, 1991, she was escorted to the hotel room of then Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, in the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas. Jones claims that Clinton propositioned her to have sex with him. She claimed she kept quiet about the incident until 1994, when a David Brock story in American Spectator described an incident sometimes referred to as Troopergate, about an Arkansas employee named "Paula" offering to be Clinton's girlfriend. Jones filed a sexual harassment suit against Clinton on May 6, 1994, two days prior to the 3-year statute of limitations, and sought $750,000 in damages.
Arkansas State Police Trooper Danny Ferguson was named as a co-defendant in Jones's lawsuit. According to Brock;s story, Ferguson told Jones that the Governor would like to meet with her in his room. Ferguson then escorted Jones up to Clinton's room and stood outside the room until Jones came out. According to Ferguson, when Jones came out she said that she would not mind being Clinton's girlfriend. Jones denied Ferguson's version of the story, and subsequently named Ferguson as a co-defendant.
While there were no eyewitnesses to back up Jones's account, Jones told a friend contemporaneously of the harassment and many other women were willing to testify to similar behavior by Clinton. In late 1997, Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled Jones was "entitled to information regarding any individuals with whom President Clinton had sexual relations or proposed to or sought to have sexual relations and who were, during the relevant time frame, state or federal employees."
Clinton and his defense team challenged Jones's right to bring a civil lawsuit against a sitting president for an incident that occurred prior to the defendant's becoming president. The Clinton defense team took the position that the trial should be delayed until the president was no longer in office, because the job of the president is unique and does not allow him to take time away from it to deal with a private civil lawsuit. The case wound its way through the courts, eventually reaching the Supreme Court on January 13, 1997. On May 27, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Clinton, and allowed the lawsuit to proceed. Clinton dismissed Jones' story and agreed to move on with the lawsuit.
Before the case reached trial, Judge Susan Webber Wright granted President Clinton's motion for summary judgment, ruling that Jones could not show that she had suffered any damages. Jones appealed the dismissal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, where, at oral argument, two of the three judges on the panel appeared sympathetic to her arguments. On November 13, 1998, Clinton settled with Jones for $850,000, the entire amount of her claim, but without an apology, in exchange for her agreement to drop the appeal. Robert Bennett, Clinton's attorney, still maintained that Jones' claim was baseless and that Clinton only settled so he could end the lawsuit and move on with his life. In March 1999, Judge Wright ruled that Jones would only get $200,000 from the settlement and that the rest of the money would pay for her legal expenses.
According to Jones, on May 8, 1991, she was escorted to the hotel room of then Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, in the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas. Jones claims that Clinton propositioned her to have sex with him. She claimed she kept quiet about the incident until 1994, when a David Brock story in American Spectator described an incident sometimes referred to as Troopergate, about an Arkansas employee named "Paula" offering to be Clinton's girlfriend. Jones filed a sexual harassment suit against Clinton on May 6, 1994, two days prior to the 3-year statute of limitations, and sought $750,000 in damages.
Arkansas State Police Trooper Danny Ferguson was named as a co-defendant in Jones's lawsuit. According to Brock;s story, Ferguson told Jones that the Governor would like to meet with her in his room. Ferguson then escorted Jones up to Clinton's room and stood outside the room until Jones came out. According to Ferguson, when Jones came out she said that she would not mind being Clinton's girlfriend. Jones denied Ferguson's version of the story, and subsequently named Ferguson as a co-defendant.
While there were no eyewitnesses to back up Jones's account, Jones told a friend contemporaneously of the harassment and many other women were willing to testify to similar behavior by Clinton. In late 1997, Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled Jones was "entitled to information regarding any individuals with whom President Clinton had sexual relations or proposed to or sought to have sexual relations and who were, during the relevant time frame, state or federal employees."
Clinton and his defense team challenged Jones's right to bring a civil lawsuit against a sitting president for an incident that occurred prior to the defendant's becoming president. The Clinton defense team took the position that the trial should be delayed until the president was no longer in office, because the job of the president is unique and does not allow him to take time away from it to deal with a private civil lawsuit. The case wound its way through the courts, eventually reaching the Supreme Court on January 13, 1997. On May 27, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Clinton, and allowed the lawsuit to proceed. Clinton dismissed Jones' story and agreed to move on with the lawsuit.
Before the case reached trial, Judge Susan Webber Wright granted President Clinton's motion for summary judgment, ruling that Jones could not show that she had suffered any damages. Jones appealed the dismissal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, where, at oral argument, two of the three judges on the panel appeared sympathetic to her arguments. On November 13, 1998, Clinton settled with Jones for $850,000, the entire amount of her claim, but without an apology, in exchange for her agreement to drop the appeal. Robert Bennett, Clinton's attorney, still maintained that Jones' claim was baseless and that Clinton only settled so he could end the lawsuit and move on with his life. In March 1999, Judge Wright ruled that Jones would only get $200,000 from the settlement and that the rest of the money would pay for her legal expenses.