Ex-Trump Campaign Staffer Files for Release from NDA in Proposed Class Action Suit
In the new filing, Jessica Denson, who is represented by Bowles & Johnson, Ballard Spahr and the advocacy group United to Protect Democracy, asked for a judgment declaring the NDA null, void and unenforceable.
June 02, 2020 at 06:10 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on New York Law Journal
President Donald J. Trump (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
A former staffer on President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign sought release from a nondisclosure agreement again Monday, when she filed a proposed class action lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Former national phone bank administrator and Hispanic engagement coordinator Jessica Denson has repeatedly sought release from the agreement, which was described in Monday's suit as "wildly broad," in state and federal court.
In the new filing, Denson, who is represented by Bowles & Johnson, Ballard Spahr and the advocacy group United to Protect Democracy, asked for a judgment declaring the NDA null, void and unenforceable.
Campaign employees, contractors and volunteers were routinely required to sign the NDA, Denson's legal team wrote, even if they were not privy to high-level strategic or otherwise private information.
The NDA contained two "ill-defined and vastly overreaching provisions," the attorneys wrote, including a nondisclosure clause prohibiting the release of any information that Trump wanted to keep private and a nondisparagement clause, which forbid signatories from "demean[ing] or disparag[ing] publicly" any member of the Trump family or their companies.
The latter clause effectively chills speech about Trump "forever," Denson's lawyers wrote, arguing that the agreement violates former campaign staffers' First Amendment rights.
"Candidates for public office and public officials cannot silence former campaign workers forever," they wrote. "Former campaign workers have a right to criticize public officials and to contribute to the public debate. That right can be limited only to protect truly sensitive information for reasonable time periods; it cannot be stripped away entirely by contract."
Citing media reports, the attorneys argued that the Trump campaign has repeatedly attempted to enforce the NDA against Denson and other former staffers who speak out, including onetime White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.
Denson's lawsuit involving her experience on the campaign, including alleged sex discrimination, is still pending in state court.
The Trump campaign had not yet entered an appearance in the case late Tuesday, and press officials for the campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
READ MORE:
Arbitrator to Decide Proper Forum for Ex-Trump Campaign Staffer's Claim, US Judge Rules
Former Trump Campaign Employee Seeks NDA Nullification in Federal Court
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