Elyse Relford, a Kentucky woman representing herself, has sued Donald Trump in Palm Beach County for US$1.3 million, alleging he raped her at a Florida hotel around 1997 while Jeffrey Epstein was present.

Laura Taylor Swain, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, set 28 October as Relford's deadline to pay US$405 in fees or apply for a waiver in a separate suit against Leon Black, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management.

Relford filed the Florida complaint on 2 October, and the clerk abated it the same day over a defect in her civil cover sheet. No court has ruled on the substance of her claims against Trump, Black or Epstein's estate, which she sued in Manhattan in August.

The allegations

Relford says she told Trump her birthday was the next day and that she was sad she could not celebrate it. She alleges in the complaint, which BocaNewsNow published on the day of filing, that he then raped her, causing bleeding and severe physical injury.

She alleges Trump repeatedly called himself Manuel, her biological father's name, to taunt her because he knew Epstein had separated them. The complaint attributes this remark to Trump: "Oh, she's a black girl. What if I get a disease?" It says Epstein answered that she was rich.

The suit pleads sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and harassment and seeks damages for physical and psychological injury, humiliation, financial loss and harm to her reputation. Relford made the defamation and harassment counts conditional on whether the law recognises them on her facts.

The complaint's factual section runs to nine numbered paragraphs and places the alleged assault around 1997, its only date. The one witness it names is Epstein, who died in federal custody in August 2019.

The Palm Beach case

The clerk assigned case number 50-2026-CA-011136-XXXA-MB. Docket screenshots published by goppredator.com, a site that catalogues sexual misconduct allegations against Republicans, show a 2 October entry abating all action in the case.

A 5 October order from Circuit Judge Darren Shull, shown in the same captures, assigned the case to the court's simplified non-jury track. The site's 9 October capture lists the case as open, with no response filed for Trump.

A clerk's abatement is an administrative pause that holds a file until the filer cures the defect. Relford's complaint names Trump as a defendant who may be served through counsel or as the law otherwise allows, according to its text.

The Black case

Relford sued Black and Elysium Management LLC on 22 September, invoking the federal court's jurisdiction over disputes between citizens of different states. Senator Ron Wyden's 2023 questions to Black identify Elysium among his affiliated entities.

Swain's 28 September order directed Relford to pay the US$350 filing fee and US$55 administrative fee or submit an application to proceed in forma pauperis within 30 days. The order also certified that any appeal from it would not be taken in good faith.

The court mailed Relford the order, a blank fee-waiver application and a form consenting to electronic service on 29 September, according to the PacerMonitor docket. The Justia docket lists both the fee and the waiver application as due on 28 October.

Anne P. Mitchell, a lawyer and law professor emeritus who bought copies of all three complaints, wrote on 20 October that Relford accuses Black of helping Epstein take control of four trust funds set up for her. Relford alleges Epstein transferred the funds to Black and believes Elysium took its name from them, Mitchell wrote.

The estate case

Relford sued the Estate of Jeffrey E. Epstein in the same court on 11 August, under case number 1:26-cv-06877, according to Justia's index of fraud cases in the Southern District of New York. Mitchell wrote that Relford had asked to proceed without paying court fees in that case.

In the estate complaint, according to Mitchell, Relford says Epstein cut her off from her father, took on a parental role and faked her death. Relford also says she worked for the CIA alongside Epstein and her father, Mitchell wrote.

Mitchell's account gives two versions of Relford's age. Relford links Elysium's 1992 incorporation to her own birth year, Mitchell wrote, while Mitchell herself wrote that Relford was born well before 1992.

The time limits

Relford's age in 1997 decides whether Florida law still allows her battery claim. A birth year of 1992 would make her about five at the time of the alleged assault, while an adult in 1997 would face a deadline that expired decades ago.

In Boyce v. Cluett in 1996, a Florida appeals court applied a four-year filing period to battery and other intentional torts. An ordinary battery claim from 1997 would have expired around 2001 unless an exception or a later starting date applied.

Boyce also addressed a 1992 abuse provision allowing suit within seven years after adulthood, four years after leaving the abuser's dependency or four years after discovering both the injury and its link to the abuse, whichever came last. Boyce followed the Florida Supreme Court's 1994 ruling in Wiley v. Roof that the legislature may extend the deadline for a live claim but cannot revive one that has expired.

Florida later removed the time limit for specified sexual battery claims involving victims under 16, except claims already time-barred on or before 1 July 2010. In Hearndon v. Graham in 2000, the Florida Supreme Court allowed a childhood sexual abuse claim to accrue late where the abuse caused traumatic amnesia.

Florida allows two years to sue for defamation, so Relford's defamation count reaches statements published after 2 October 2024.

E. Jean Carroll sued Trump over a mid-1990s assault under New York's Adult Survivors Act, which reopened expired adult claims for one year from November 2022. Florida's section 95.11 contains no comparable revival window for adult sexual assault claims.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Clinton v. Jones in 1997 that a sitting president has no temporary immunity from federal civil suits over private conduct before taking office. The justices left the question of state-court suits open.

The response

Trump has denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, Al Jazeera reported in March, when White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed a different woman's accusations in released FBI files as baseless and lacking credible evidence. Both statements predate Relford's lawsuit.

Florida's Rule 1.070(j) gives a plaintiff 120 days after filing to serve a defendant, after which the court can set a further deadline, dismiss without prejudice or drop the unserved defendant. The court must extend the period where the plaintiff shows good cause or excusable neglect. Counted from Relford's 2 October filing, the 120 days run to 30 January 2027.