The woman who accused Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs of drugging and raping her when she was 13 can remain anonymous for now, a judge ruled on Thursday (December 26), citing “very sensitive” character of its categories. .
According to court documents obtained Bulletin boardJudge Annalisa Torres wrote that “the weight of the factors” in the case “turns in favor of allowing the Plaintiff to remain anonymous” for now. In justifying the decision, the judge cited Jane Doe's claim that she continues to suffer from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other health effects from the alleged rape, as well as the woman's lawyers' claim that Combs has threatened other alleged victims. victims who have filed lawsuits against him because he spoke out. However, the judge acknowledges that “because the balance of these factors will certainly change” as the case progresses, she plans to revisit the anonymity issue at a later date.
Also in Thursday's ruling, the judge denied a request by Jay-Z's legal team to fast-track a hearing on their motion to dismiss the case against him and criticized the rap mogul's attorney, Alex Spirofor “relentlessly filing combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks” against plaintiff's counsel; Tony Buzzbeecalling them “inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client”. The motion to expedite the hearing was set for December 13 NBC News interview in which Jane Doe admitted inconsistencies and “mistakes” in her account of the alleged assault and was contradicted by her own father.
In the woman's complaint, filed earlier this month, she accused Combs and Jay-Z (born Shawn Carter) of drugging and sexually assaulting her after an MTV Video Music Awards after-party in 2000. The case was an updated version of an earlier complaint the woman had filed against Combs alone.
Since the updated lawsuit involving Carter was filed on December 8, the rap mogul and his lawyers have vehemently denied the allegations, with Carter calling the lawsuit an “extortion attempt” and calling Buzbee a “fraud” aimed at “the exploitation of people. for personal gain”. Buzbee has filed several lawsuits against Combs in recent months and has said he represents dozens more victims who have yet to file their own complaints.
In a statement sent to Bulletin board In response to Thursday's court ruling, Buzbee said “the concerted and desperate efforts to attack me as an advocate for the alleged victims fall flat.”
Carter's attorney did not immediately respond Bulletin boardhis request for comment.
The latest ruling in the case comes as part of an intensifying legal battle between Jay-Z and Buzbee. On December 18, Buzbee filed a lawsuit against Jay-Z's label, Roc Nation, and its lawyers (including Marcy Croft and law firm Quinn Emanuel) accuses them of “hiring shady agents” to derail his case against the rapper, including allegedly offering money to one of his former clients (Gerardo Garcia) to get him to file false lawsuits against of his company – an incident Buzbee's claims were captured on film. “The defendants conspired to obstruct justice by engaging undercover agents to illegally solicit more than two dozen current and former clients of the Buzbee Law Firm in order to induce those clients to file frivolous cases against [the firm],” Buzbee wrote.
In response, a spokesperson for Roc Nation called Buzbee's lawsuit “nothing more than another scam” and “a pathetic attempt to distract and divert attention,” while Croft responded by calling the allegations in the lawsuit “false” and “a desperate attempt to distract him. legal troubles are increasing”.
Buzbee's Dec. 18 lawsuit is actually the second he has filed against Carter's lawyers in the past month. The first, filed earlier in December, accused Quinn Emanuel of retaliation, including allegedly harassing Buzbee's co-workers, customers and family. That came in response to a lawsuit Jay-Z secretly filed against Buzbee in November, in which the rapper accused the Texas attorney of spearheading an effort to extract settlements from innocent celebrities after he threatened to link them to Combs.
