Ivanka Trump is trying to avoid questioning in a lawsuit filed last year by designer label Aquazzura against Trump’s eponymous brand, licensed by Marc Fisher, according to a Bloomberg report.
The lawsuit filed by Aquazzura in Manhattan federal court, claims that Trump’s brand, along with Marc Fisher, copied Aquazzura’s Wild Thing sandal.
Aquazzura’s $785 red suede sandal with a four-inch heel and fringed vamp retails for $600 more than the Ivanka Trump Hettie style, which sold for around $130.
“We are having trouble scheduling Ivanka Trump’s deposition,” Aquazzura lawyer John Margiotta told U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in a telephone hearing last week, according to Bloomberg. “On Friday, we were notified that they are not in fact willing to produce Ms. Trump at all.”
Trump’s camp urges that she was not involved in copying the design. Trump relinquished her role with the company earlier this year, but still retains ownership and receives payouts from the company.
“She was not involved in the design, promotion or sale of the shoe,” said her lawyer, Darren Saunders, in a court hearing. According to Bloomberg, Trump views the shoes and makes a decision to approve them.
The news that the First Daughter might not give a statement in defense of her eponymous label comes soon after the brand made headlines for undercover activists being detained at an Ivanka Trump shoe supplier in China last month.
The judge in the Aquazzura case, Forrest, said she will make a ruling next week as to whether Trump must answer lawyer’s questions for the trial. Forrest also relayed that she hopes Aquazzura and Trump can limit questioning by taking Abigail Klem, president of the Ivanka Trump brand, testimony first.