Judge James Otero: Things Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com
On Monday evening, US district judge James Otero issued a ruling against the defamation lawsuit that Stormy Daniels had brought against Donald Trump.
Judge Otero also ruled that the president is entitled to ask Stormy Daniels to pay his legal fees.
You can read the statement from President Trump's legal counsel, Charles J.
Harder, here, and see the ruling here.
Here's what you need to know about Judge James Otero:.
Otero Indicated Last Month That He Would Probably Dismiss the Case.
Stormy Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said on Monday that he will appeal the ruling.
But already last month, Judge Otero was signalling that he didn't take Daniels' claims seriously.
The case hinges around a tweet that Trump wrote back in April.
Daniels claimed that she had been threatened by a strange man in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011, after she agreed to talk to a magazine about her alleged fling with Trump.
Trump wrote in a tweet that the whole story was "a total con job" about a "nonexistent man.".
That's when Daniels sued for libel.
But already in September, Otero said that Trump's tweet didn't seem to be defamation.
"This appears to be rhetorical hyperbole by a public official involving a public figure," the judge said.
Otero Decided Not to Put a Gag Order on Michael Avenatti.
In June, lawyers for Michael Cohen asked Judge Otero to issue an order stopping Stormy Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, from talking about Cohen's case.
Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer, said that Avenatti was trying to drum up publicity for himself by talking about Cohen's case.
The motion, filed by Cohen's lawyers, said "Avenatti's actions are mainly driven by his seemingly unquenchable thirst for publicity," and asked for an injunction to stop Avenatti "from communicating with the press and/or public regarding the merits of this case.".
Otero said that there wasn't enough evidence showing that Avenatti was doing serious harm to Cohen by talking about him — so he declined to issue the gag order.
Otero Was Appointed to Federal Court by President George W Bush.
Judge Otero is a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
President George W Bush nominated him in January 2003.
He was confirmed very quickly and took the bench in February of the same year.
Prior to his nomination to the district court, Otero served as a judge in the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County.
Before that, he was a judge in the Los Angeles municipal court.
Otero Is a Los Angeles Native Who Earned His Law Degree at Stanford.
Otero was born in Los Angeles in 1951.
He earned his BA from California State University at Northridge in 1973.
He then went on to earn his law degree from Stanford Law School in 1976.
After graduating from law school, Otero went to work for the office of the City Attorney in Los Angeles as a law clerk and attorney.
He later took a job as regional counsel for the Southern Pacific Transportation Company.
He left that job when he was appointed as a judge on the Los Angeles municipal court.
Otero and His Wife, Jill, Have Two Children.
Otero has been praised for his volunteer work with underprivileged children in Los Angeles.
He often tells young people to "learn how to fail" and then to pick themselves up and continue.
But he also said, "when you're young, be careful of the toes you step on — because they may be connected to the butt you have to kiss later.".
Otero and his wife, Jill, have two children.
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