san diego<u+2014>president-elect donald trump is headed to washington while involved in an array of private lawsuits, cases that could take time and attention away from his new job of running the country. his lawyers in one of the most prominent cases<u+2014>set to begin here on nov. 28, regarding allegations of fraud against the now-defunct trump university<u+2014>addressed the concern at a hearing thursday by asking that the trial be delayed while mr. trump prepares to take office. <u+201c>we feel there<u+2019>s a compelling justification to ask the court to put this trial off until after the inauguration,<u+201d> said daniel petrocelli, an attorney for mr. trump. mr. petrocelli also requested that mr. trump be able to appear by video or some other mechanism rather than coming to court. <u+201c>there has never been a case in the history of our country where a sitting president has been required to come into a courtroom<u+201d> to testify in a case against him, he said. the case involves allegations that trump university duped students into paying thousands of dollars on false promises they would learn his real-estate strategies. mr. trump has denied the allegations, saying students got their money<u+2019>s worth, with many offering positive reviews. the presiding federal judge, gonzalo curiel, briefly became a focal point of the presidential race in june after mr. trump said the u.s.-born judge was biased, given his <u+201c>mexican heritage<u+201d> and mr. trump<u+2019>s tough stance on illegal immigrants from mexico. those comments were widely criticized. judge curiel at thursday<u+2019>s hearing urged the parties to reach a resolution outside of court, <u+201c>given all else that<u+2019>s involved,<u+201d> including the prospect of spending millions of dollars to take the case before a jury and into possible appeals. a trump spokeswoman declined to comment on the trump university and other cases, or whether mr. trump would approach them differently now that he has won the presidency. judge curiel, among other things, was being asked thursday to decide whether statements mr. trump made during the presidential campaign would be admissible at trial. the judge in a written order said he wasn<u+2019>t inclined to issue a broad prohibition to keep such statements from the jury. other cases making similar allegations against trump university, including one brought by new york attorney general eric schneiderman, remain in the legal pipeline. in his soon-to-be hometown of washington, mr. trump could face a pair of trials next year at a local courthouse about a mile from the white house. both involve disputes with big-name chefs who withdrew from plans to operate restaurants in a new trump hotel on pennsylvania avenue, citing mr. trump<u+2019>s inflammatory comments during the campaign about mexican immigrants. mr. trump was deposed in june in a case involving chef geoffrey zakarian.<u+00a0> in the other case, the president-elect is expected to be deposed in the coming weeks by lawyers for noted washington chef jos<u+00e9> andr<u+00e9>s. mr. andr<u+00e9>s and other litigants battling mr. trump say they are undaunted by his ascent to the white house. <u+201c>we do not view mr. trump<u+2019>s electoral victory as material to our lawsuit, and we plan to continue to pursue it vigorously,<u+201d> said a spokeswoman for mr. andr<u+00e9>s<u+2019>s company, thinkfoodgroup. a state judge in manhattan is considering whether to give the green light to a lawsuit alleging mr. trump defamed a republican strategist, cheryl jacobus, by making derogatory statements about her on twitter this year. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t see anything that would change the trajectory of our lawsuit,<u+201d> said ms. jacobus<u+2019>s lawyer, jay butterman.<u+00a0><u+201c>this is more important now than ever. it<u+2019>s about how political discourse is handled in this country.<u+201d> at a hearing last month, trump defense lawyer lawrence rosen argued the case should be dismissed, saying mr. trump<u+2019>s statements about ms. jacobus were expressions of opinion he was entitled to make. he said mr. trump<u+2019>s statements were <u+201c>loaded with hyperbole<u+201d> and <u+201c>contain figurative speech not intended to be taken literally.<u+201d> the supreme court has ruled the president, like anyone else, doesn<u+2019>t get a free pass from participating in private litigation related to his unofficial acts, and isn<u+2019>t entitled to postpone it during his years in the white house. the holding came in a landmark 1997 supreme court case in which the justices ruled former president bill clinton couldn<u+2019>t defer civil litigation in which paula jones alleged he made abhorrent sexual advances toward her while he was governor of arkansas. mr. clinton eventually paid $850,000 in an out-of-court settlement and didn<u+2019>t admit any wrongdoing. but his deposition testimony in the case, in which he denied a relationship with monica lewinsky, helped lead to his impeachment. arthur hellman, a university of pittsburgh law professor, said mr. trump<u+2019>s portfolio of active litigation is unusual for a president-to-be, but so is his path to the white house. <u+201c>what creates this situation is mr. trump is a businessman, not a politician,<u+201d> mr. hellman said. <u+201c>this is business litigation with a political cast.<u+201d> <u+201c>i would certainly think his lawyers would be looking for ways to make some of these cases go away rather than distracting from his time as president,<u+201d> he added. write to brent kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com and sara randazzo at sara.randazzo@wsj.com
donald trump faces private lawsuits while headed to white house  - wsj
brent kendall sara randazzo