An Alabama woman who says she was raped by Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs when she was 13 can proceed anonymously, for now, in her lawsuit against the rap moguls, a New York federal judge ruled Thursday.
In her written order, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres said the woman can proceed anonymously at this early stage of the litigation, but she may be required to reveal her identity at a later date, if the case proceeds. That would allow defense lawyers to collect facts necessary to prepare for trial. Torres also cited “substantial interest” from the public.
The Manhattan jurist also chastised Alex Spiro — the lawyer representing Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter — for what she described as his “relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks” against the plaintiff’s lawyer, calling them “inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources, and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client.”
Torres wrote in her order Thursday that Spiro, who has been on the case less than three weeks, has submitted a “litany of letters and motions attempting to impugn the character of Plaintiff’s lawyer, many of them expounding on the purported ‘urgency’ of this case.”
In response to the ruling, Tony Buzbee, the plaintiff’s attorney, told CBS News in an email Thursday evening that he doesn’t “typically comment on court rulings,” but alleged that “the coordinated and desperate efforts to attack me as counsel for alleged victims are falling flat.”
CBS News has reached out to Carter’s attorneys for comment.
Combs remains jailed in New York awaiting a criminal trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He also faces a wave of sexual assault lawsuits, many of which were filed by Buzbee, a Texas attorney who says his firm represents over 150 people, both men and women, who allege sexual abuse and exploitation by Combs.
The lawsuits allege many individuals were abused at parties in New York, California and Florida after receiving drug-laced drinks.
Combs’ lawyers have dismissed Buzbee’s lawsuits as “shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr. Combs.” Jay-Z has said in a statement that Buzbee is trying to blackmail him to settle the Alabama woman’s allegations.
In her lawsuit, the woman who says she was raped at 13 identifies herself as “Jane Doe.” She said she was living in Rochester in 2000 when she made her way to New York City and befriended a limousine driver who drove her to an after-party for the MTV Music Awards, where she says she was eventually attacked by Jay-Z and Combs.
Spiro asked the judge to dismiss the entertainer from the woman’s lawsuit and he requested a hearing on the case for the day after he made his requests in writing on Dec. 18.
Citing an interview the plaintiff did with NBC News, Spiro wrote that the broadcast revealed “glaring inconsistencies and outright impossibilities” in the plaintiff’s story. For one thing, the woman said she traveled for five hours from Rochester to watch the music awards show on a jumbotron outside the VMAs even though permits and pictures show there was no jumbotron at the event.
Spiro also noted that the woman’s father has said he does not recall driving from Rochester to pick his daughter up in New York City, as she says he did.
In the interview, the woman admitted to inconsistencies in her story.
