Is There a Price That Keeps Trump Quiet? E. Jean Carroll May Find Out.

Because the punitive damages awarded last month did not muzzle Mr. Trump, Mr. Chew said, Ms. Carroll may wish to argue for several million dollars — “perhaps even to the eight and nine figures,” he said.

Or maybe it will require 10 figures, as shown by the success of one major defamation case.

Chris Mattei, a lawyer who last year helped the families of eight people killed in the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., win $1.4 billion from Alex Jones, the Infowars conspiracy broadcaster, said the award “appears to have temporarily quieted Jones’s direct attacks on the families, though the harm from his decade of lies continues.”

“We needed to obtain a verdict that was substantial enough to get him to reassess his business incentives, believing that Alex Jones is primarily a profiteer,” Mr. Mattei said.

As for Mr. Trump, Mr. Mattei added, “he has political incentives right now that are at the forefront of his mind.”

Mr. Trump has often fought legal battles outside court, using them to win support from voters and making allegations that his lawyers have declined to repeat under oath. He has labeled Jack Smith, the special prosecutor who has leveled charges against him, a “deranged lunatic” and called Manhattan’s district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, a criminal.

Those men could send Mr. Trump to prison, but Ms. Carroll’s case threatens only financial pain.

“Money has always been a decisive factor in his entire personality,” said James D. Zirin, a lawyer and the author of “Plaintiff in Chief: A Portrait of Donald Trump in 3,500 Lawsuits.” He added, “The amount of money that he has to pay out diminishes his power and diminishes his appearance as being this powerful Teflon Donald kind of figure.”

Mr. Trump has a reputation for stiffing people who work for him, from laborers to lawyers. But plaintiffs who win money have leverage like liens on real estate and mandatory financial disclosures.