Judge Allows Jay-Z To File Motion To Dismiss Sexual Assault Lawsuit After Previously Reprimanding Him For It
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Jay-Z and his attorney, Alex Spiro, filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss the ongoing sexual assault lawsuit against him after receiving permission to submit the filing from United States District Judge Analisa Torres. The judge had previously denied a similar motion by the defendant, and she reprimanded Spiro and the “Hard Knocks Life” rapper for their “relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks” on the plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, and her attorney, Tony Buzbee, who Jay and Spiro have been publicly feuding with.
According to Variety, the motion filed by Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, alleges a series of inconsistencies regarding Jane Doe’s story, which had previously been noted after the accuser began speaking with reporters.
From Variety:
Carter’s attorney Alex Spiro cites the Jane Doe accuser’s interview with NBC News in December, where she told the publication she had made “some mistakes” in her retelling of her story (also in December, Judge Torres ruled the accuser can remain anonymous in the case). Spiro argues that the accuser’s lawyer — Tony Buzbee, who already has a defamation case pinned against him from Carter — is accusing Carter of “a horrific crime without adequately vetting the allegation.”
The new motion to dismiss includes the request to impose a monetary sanction or fee award against Buzbee and the Buzbee Law Firm for “alleging facts without a sufficient investigation or by failing to withdraw those allegations once it is clear that they are false or exceedingly unlikely to be true.”
Predictably, Buzbee isn’t taking the allegations that he doesn’t know how to vet a client lying down. Instead, Buzbee said in a statement that he and his team would be addressing “the utter lack of merit with his filing with the Court, rather than with the press.”
“Mr. Spiro and his firm are paid by the hour. So, they file a lot of junk with the Court,” Buzbee continued. “With each frantic filing, his team reeks of desperation. He and his team think the laws and rules don’t apply to them. They are flat wrong. They also think they can bully or intimidate counsel for victims by filing meritless and frivolous pleadings full of lies and half-truths. They are dead wrong. We won’t be bullied or intimidated, ever.”
Again, Judge Torres had also admonished Carter and Spiro over the sheer volume of their filings while denying a motion that made similar claims to Wednesday’s motion. It’s unclear what changed over the last couple of weeks.
