A lawyer who filed one of several sexual assault lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs now faces possible discipline after a federal judge in another case slammed him for filing lawsuits to “get media attention” and “embarrass the accused”.
In an order issued on Wednesday (April 3) in a separate action, the Judge Denise Cote refers Tyrone Blackburn to the Grievance Committee for the New York Federal Circuit – an entity that decides whether lawyers have violated court rules. He cited his conduct in five separate lawsuits, saying Blackburn's testimony in those cases was “glaringly flawed.”
“A reasonable inference from Blackburn's pattern of conduct is that he improperly files cases in federal court to gain media attention, embarrass defendants with frivolous allegations, and pressure defendants to settle quickly,” the judge wrote Kot. “Indeed, his cases in this court were replete with disturbing allegations against defendants and defense counsel.”
The order, which came in a legal malpractice lawsuit filed by Blackburn last year, referred him to the grievance commission for the Southern District of New York for “any action it deems appropriate.”
Judge Cote's decision is notable because Blackburn currently serves as lead counsel for Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a producer who filed a sweeping lawsuit against Combs in February. The lawsuit is one of several such cases filed against Combs, in addition to a federal criminal investigation that led to raids on his homes last month. Combs has vehemently denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
In an email to Advertising sign on Thursday, Blackburn said: “I'm not sure how this is at all relevant to the Rodney Jones case or any other case I have. This will have no effect on my ability to proceed with Mr. Jones' case. Although Judge Cote's decision was a referral to the SDNY Grievance Committee and not a sanction, I intend to appeal the decision.”
In his lawsuit last month, Jones accused Combs of repeated sexual assault and harassment while Jones was working as a producer on the rapper's 2023. The album of love. But he went further, alleging that Didi and others had violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the federal RICO statute best known for criminal cases against the Mafia. As part of these claims, he named several other prominent individuals as members of this alleged illegal conspiracy, including the CEO of Universal Music Group Lucian Grainge and former Motown CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam.
Blackburn have already faced scrutiny over allegations made against Jones. In her response to the lawsuit, Combs' attorney, Shawn Holleytook the unusual step of calling out her opposing attorney by name, saying Blackburn had “ignored” evidence of Combs' innocence before filing the case.
“Our attempts to share this evidence with Mr. Jones' attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored as Mr. Blackburn refuses to return our calls,” Holley said at the time. “We will take these outlandish allegations to court and take all appropriate action against those who make them.”
Last week, UMG lawyers took a similar aim in Blackburn. Arguing that Grainge had “absolutely nothing to do” with the allegations against Diddy, the company's lawyers said the claims were so “outrageously false” that they would seek to punish Blackburn himself for filing them.
“Licensing is a privilege,” he wrote Donald Zachary, a longtime music industry litigator representing UMG and Grainge. “Mr. Blackburn, the plaintiff's attorney, abused this leave to incriminate himself by unfairly, falsely and recklessly accusing the UMG defendants of criminal conduct.”
UMG's filing last week said the company would seek legal sanctions against Blackburn under Federal Rule 11, which requires lawyers to make a “reasonable inquiry” into allegations they file in court. That's the same rule Judge Cote invoked Wednesday in her ruling against Blackburn, saying “his actions in this and previous cases indicate a repeated failure to meet his obligations under Rule 11.”
In reaching that conclusion, the judge cited several instances in which Blackburn allegedly filed cases in the wrong court without properly investigating whether it was the correct jurisdiction, as well as an incident in which she called a defense attorney a “disgusting racist” amid a dispute over the selection of a mediator. The judge also cited a claim by an opposing attorney that Blackburn had filed a case in federal rather than state court “because doing so would make the press more likely to discuss it.”
“Substantial resources have been expended by the court's judges and defendants named in lawsuits he has filed to address the glaring deficiencies in his records,” Judge Cote wrote in her ruling Wednesday. “Referral to the Grievance Committee of this court is warranted.”
It's unclear how long such a case would take for the grievance committee to rule on, or what kind of disciplinary action the body might impose.
