I have settled out of court twice rather than fight. In each case, I think I could have won, but the time to fight and the risk that I wouldn't win, even when I knew I was right on the core issue, led me to settle. Both of those were civil cases involving business.

I have gone to trial in every case where my name, reputation, or another person's situation was at stake. Specifically, because reputations take years to build, and minutes to destroy. I have won every single time, even though it has sometimes taken many years.

Either Disney didn't think they could win, or they didn't care that much about their reputation or Stephanopoulos'. They easily could afford the money, and the publicity would not have been good, too.

Trump is an odious sexist and sexual harasser, at the least. What Trump was NOT, in this case, was a rapist. I saw that interview with Stephanopoulos and Mace, and Stephanopoulos was shaming her and bullying her into denouncing her decision to support Trump. I'll never vote for Trump, but Stephanopoulos was horrible in that "interview." Stephanopoulos called Trump a convicted rapist multiple times.

Trump was running for president. If he had NOT sued Stephanopoulos for defamation, I am 100% sure that the US MSM would have from then on started nearly every Trump segment with, "Convicted rapist Donald Trump..."

Trump was within his rights to sue. I believe Disney would have lost, and I also believe Disney knew the odds were against them that they would win, which is why they settled.

I'll also note that Judge Kaplan is the same horrible judge who presided over the trial of Steven Donziger, which was a fucking sham trial and a black spot on the rule of law in the US. Basically, Chevron (Texaco) was allowed to be judge and jury against Donziger.

Any trial where Kaplan is presiding is questionable in my eyes after how he handled the Donziger case.