Melania Trump Gets Wolff Case Dismissed in SDNY He Cited Florida 770 Notices Sent to Him

Melania Trump Gets Wolff Case Dismissed in SDNY He Cited Florida 770 Notices Sent to Him by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SDNY COURTHOUSE, May 22 – Journalist Michael Wolff filed a defamation lawsuit against Melania Trump in New York State court on October 21, 2025.   On December 29, Melania Trump through counsel filed a Notice of Removal to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which Inner City Press closely covers and where it found it. The notice says that she is a resident of Florida and therefore diversity jurisdiction applies.    Her lawyers also wrote that "plaintiff falsely and maliciously asserted that Mrs. Trump was somehow 'involved' in the 'scandal' relating to Jeffrey Epstein [and] initiated this action in an improper effort to preempt a potential defamation lawsuit against him by Mrs. Trump."  On January 26 Melania Trump's lawyers moved to dismiss, or to transfer the case to the Southern District of Florida. On February 9 Wolff's lawyer opposed - and filed Melania Trump's emails with Ghislaine Maxwell, and an FBI 203 about Paulo Zampolli, who Inner City Press reported on at the UN before being thrown out of the UN by Antonio Guterres, introducing the first couple, on Patreon here On February 17 Melania Trump's lawyers replied, leading with the argument that there was be effective service of process. Full memo of law on Patreon here On February 24, Wolff argued "If specific personal jurisdiction over Trump has not been established, Wolff has made a sufficient showing of 302(a)(3) New York contacts to warrant a fair opportunity for discovery on that issue. See Cross-Motion, ¶6 and ¶7 (ECF 13). Wolff has shown that the 770.01 Notice– a notice that had legal consequences for Wolff in New York – establishes 302(a)(3) jurisdiction over Trump in New York" - 14 page filing on Patreon here On May 22, Judge Vyskocil dismissed the case, begining "n this case, a chronicler of the First Family sues the First Lady because she threatened to sue him for defamation. While Plaintiff and the First Lady have a real dispute, they must litigate it according to the same procedures as everyone else. Plaintiff asks for a declaration that, if the First Lady sues him, he deserves to win. That is not how the federal courts work" - 45 page Order on Patreon here More on X for Subscribers here and Substack here The SDNY case is Wolff v. Trump, 1:25-cv-10752 (Vyskocil) *** Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron. Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station, NY NY 10013 Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.  Copyright 2006-2026 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com