Lawyer for Vikings’ Dalvin Cook says civil case will likely go to trial in 2023

Chris Tomasson, Pioneer Press
·1 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

A jury trial in a civil suit involving Vikings star running back Dalvin Cook likely will be held in August 2023, one of his attorneys said Thursday.

“It hasn’t been set, but it looks like that’s when it’s going to be,’’ attorney David Valentini said about a trial date in August 2023.

Cook was sued last November by a former girlfriend for allegedly assaulting her at his Inver Grove Heights home in November 2020. In December, Cook filed a defamation and fraud lawsuit against the woman, Gracelyn Trimble.

Cook declined comment after Thursday afternoon’s practice.

Trimble, a sergeant in the U.S. Army stationed in Italy, alleged in her lawsuit that Cook left her with a concussion, as well as cuts and welts on her face. She alleges battery and false imprisonment in addition to assault and has sought unspecified damages in excess of $50,000.

After Trimble’s suit was filed last November, Cook said that he was “the victim in this situation and that the ‘truth’ would come out.

Asked about the trial not being held until after the season, Valentini said that the lawsuit still “is hanging over (Cook’s) head.”

“I never say, ‘Don’t worry,’ but I still think (Trimble’s suit is) just frivolous,” he added. “… I don’t think it’s that easy if you’ve got something hanging over your head.”

Valentini stressed that it is a civil case and said “there is nothing in criminal in it.” With that in mind, Valentini said he would let the the civil lawyers representing Cook “do their act” but that he would remain “peripherally involved in the case.”

A message left for Trimble’s lawyer, Daniel J. Cragg, was not immediately returned.

Related Articles