US first lady Melania Trump has refiled a £121 million libel lawsuit against the corporation that publishes the Daily Mail’s website, this time in New York, for reporting rumours that she worked as an escort.
In the new filing, Trump’s lawyers argue the report damaged her ability to profit from her high profile.
The filing states that Trump “had the unique, one-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person, as well as a former professional model, brand spokesperson and successful businesswoman, to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which Plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world”.
Those product categories, it goes on to say, could have included clothing, accessories, jewellery, cosmetics, hair care and fragrance, among others.
Trump had previously filed the lawsuit against Mail Media Inc in Maryland, but earlier this month a judge ruled the case should not be filed there and dismissed it last week.
The lawsuit, now filed in New York, where the corporation has offices, seeks compensatory and punitive damages of at least $150m.
Trump had sued Mail Media Inc, along with blogger Webster Tarpley, for reporting the rumours.
She filed the lawsuit in Maryland after both Tarpley and the Daily Mail issued retractions.
The lawsuit against Tarpley has been allowed to move ahead in Maryland.
