Legal News
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Members of the 1980s new wave band The Plimsouls have won a legal ruling against the group’s guitarist over the trademark rights to the band’s name – the music industry’s latest battle over the names of classic rock groups.
In a decision issued last week, a federal trademark tribunal sided with Peter Case and two other members of the Plimsouls – best known for their 1983 hit “A Million Miles Away” from the movie Valley Girl – in their fight with guitarist Eddie Munez.
The band had accused Munez of effectively going rogue, including performing under “The Plimsouls” with new musicians and seeking to secure his own trademarks to the name. They claimed fans “unwittingly bought tickets” to the shows because they thought it was the real band.
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On Wednesday (May 18), the federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board said it was “crystal clear” that the band collectively, and not Munez alone, owned the rights to “The Plimsouls” name – thanks in part to the fact that they were all continuing to receive royalties.
“[Munez] had and continues to have his cake (royalties from the band). But he cannot eat it too (exclusively own the band’s mark),” the board wrote. “The public associates the … THE PLIMSOULS with the group, not just its lead guitarist.”
The battle between the members of the Plimsouls is just the latest clash between bandmates over the legal rights to classic group names. Journey, Stone Temple Pilots and Jefferson Starship have all fought protracted litigation over their trademarks, as have members of the Rascals, the Ebonys, the Commodores and the Platters.
Such disputes often arise out of one question: Who truly constitutes the band? Is it the band members, or an LLC that owns the rights to the name? Is it the original lineup, or the one that produced the biggest hits? Does one key member and a bunch of replacements count? Fans, band members and lawyers will likely give you different answers.
In the case of the Plimsouls, the band argued that all four members had always been members of a partnership that equally split control of the band’s intellectual property, including the trademarks to the band’s name.
Munez argued back that the band had “abandoned” any such rights because his bandmates had failed to perform any live concerts under the name since 2007. But in its ruling last week, the trademark board rejected that argument.
“Petitioner has not abandoned its mark The Plimsouls because the band’s music has remained on sale … throughout the band’s 45-year existence,” the judge wrote. “The [trademark] has always identified their group, based on the group’s music, and live and filmed performances. This explains why consumers have complained to [the band] after mistaking [Munez]’s band for [The Plimsouls] and being disappointed as a result.”
Neither side immediately returned a request for comment on Wednesday.
Universal Music Group (UMG) and CEO Lucian Grainge have been dismissed from a lawsuit claiming they “aided and abetted” Sean “Diddy” Combs in his alleged sexual abuse — a move that came after the lawyer who filed the case admitted there had been “no legal basis for the claims.”
The sudden reversal came two months after attorneys for the music giant argued that the accusations were so “offensively false” that they planned to take the unusual step of seeking legal penalties directly against the accuser’s lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn, over his decision to name them in the lawsuit.
In a sworn declaration filed in court Monday (May 13), Blackburn said that after reading UMG’s objections, he had “concluded that there is no legal basis for the claims and allegations that were made against the UMG defendants.” He asked that they be dismissed immediately and “with prejudice” — meaning he cannot refile them later.
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In his own court filing on Tuesday, UMG’s lead attorney, Donald Zakarin, agreed that the accusations against his clients should be dropped. But he once again sharply criticized Blackburn for bringing those claims in the first place.
“As we have repeatedly said from our very first communication with counsel for the plaintiff on March 4, 2024, there was no basis, not legal and not factual, for the claims and accusations that were alleged,” Zakarin wrote. “The UMG defendants should never have been named in any of these complaints and we should never have been required to make motions to dismiss the complaints in this action.”
When reached for comment by Billboard, Blackburn declined to answer specific questions about what had led him to drop the case: “I would strongly advise you not to reach out to me for any comment on any case that I have. I have no respect for you as a journalist. You are a mouth piece for [Combs’ attorney] Shawn Holley, and UMG. You should reach out to them for comment.”
Filed in late February, the lawsuit against Diddy claims that he sexually assaulted and harassed a producer named Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones while he was working as a producer on the rapper’s 2023 The Love Album. The lawsuit is one of several abuse cases filed against Combs over the past six months, in addition to an apparent federal criminal investigation. Combs has strongly denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
But the case filed by Jones went far beyond a simple sexual assault claim against Diddy. Naming Grainge, UMG and numerous others as defendants, the case alleged that they operated a sweeping conspiracy that violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act — the federal RICO statute that’s more often used in criminal cases against mobsters and drug cartels. He also accused the various defendants of violating federal sex trafficking laws.
In a scathing response to those allegations in March, attorneys for UMG and Grainge said that those claims were “entirely invented by Mr. Blackburn.”
“The [complaint] hurls accusations of criminal racketeering and criminal sex trafficking against the UMG defendants, respected individuals and companies having utterly nothing to do with plaintiff’s claims,” Zakarin wrote at the time. “These accusations are recklessly false and, but for the fact that they are embodied in a complaint, would be libelous.”
In addition to seeking to have the claims dismissed, UMG’s lawyers also took aim directly at Blackburn. They accused him of filing “knowingly false allegations” and said they would ask the judge to punish him for doing so.
“A license to practice law is a privilege,” Zakarin wrote at the time. “Mr. Blackburn, plaintiff’s lawyer, has misused that license to self-promote, gratuitously, falsely and recklessly accusing the UMG defendants of criminal behavior.”
Earth, Wind & Fire has reached a settlement with a tribute act that used the R&B group’s name without permission, avoiding a looming trial over how much the unauthorized group would have to pay in damages.
The settlement, filed in court on Tuesday (May 14), came two months after a judge ruled that the tribute group had infringed Earth, Wind & Fire’s trademark rights by calling themselves “Earth, Wind & Fire Legacy Reunion” — a name the judge called “deceptive and misleading.”
Following that ruling, a trial had been scheduled for later this month over how much Legacy Reunion would be required to pay in damages. But in a joint filing this week, attorneys for both sides said those proceedings would no longer be necessary.
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“The parties have reached a settlement in principle related to the damages issues that remain to be tried before the court in the referenced action,” the lawyers wrote. “The parties are in the process of preparing documents that reflect their agreement on the damages issues and that should fully dispose of the damages issues that remained unresolved in this action.”
The terms of the agreement, including how much Legacy Reunion will pay to Earth Wind & Fire, were not disclosed in court filings. Neither side immediately returned requests for comment.
Earth, Wind & Fire has continued to tour since founder Maurice White died in 2016, led by longtime members Philip Bailey, Ralph Johnson and White’s brother, Verdine White. The band operates under a license from an entity called Earth Wind & Fire IP, a holding company controlled by Maurice White’s sons that formally owns the rights to the name.
Last year, that company filed the current lawsuit, accusing Legacy Reunion of trying to trick consumers into thinking it was the real Earth, Wind & Fire. Though it called itself a “Reunion,” the lawsuit said the tribute band contained only a few “side musicians” who had briefly played with Earth, Wind & Fire many years ago.
“Defendants did this to benefit from the commercial magnetism and immense goodwill the public has for plaintiff’s ‘Earth, Wind & Fire’ marks and logos, thereby misleading consumers and selling more tickets at higher prices,” the group’s lawyers wrote at the time.
Tribute acts — groups that exclusively cover the music of a particular band — are legally allowed to operate, and they often adopt names that allude to the original. But they must make clear that they are only a tribute band, and they can get into legal hot water if they make it appear that they are affiliated with or endorsed by the original.
Ruling on the case last month, Judge Federico A. Moreno said the evidence pointed “overwhelmingly” in the band’s favor. In particular, the judge cited angry social media posts and emails from fans who attended the “Reunion” shows because they thought it was the original band — proof of the kind of “actual confusion” that’s crucial evidence in a trademark lawsuit.
“It is not a far cry to think that an average consumer looking for an Earth, Wind & Fire concert would believe that they could acquire that experience from either plaintiff or defendants,” the judge wrote.
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A deep dive into Young Thug’s trial in Atlanta as the gang case passes the two-year mark with no clear end in sight; a Supreme Court ruling in a copyright case filed against Warner Music over a Flo Rida song; Donald Glover beats a lawsuit claiming he stole his chart-topping “This Is America”; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Why Is Young Thug’s Trial Taking So Long?
It’s been two years since Young Thug was indicted on accusations of running a violent street gang that terrorized Atlanta. It’s been well over a year since jury selection started, and more than five months since the trial got underway in earnest. The proceedings are expected to last into 2025, with roughly 100 more states witnesses still to testify. And all the while, Young Thug has sat in jail.Pitting prosecutors from America’s rap capital against one of hip-hop’s most influential artists, the Young Thug case was always an extraordinary story – not least because it represented a flashpoint in a decades-long debate over the use of rap music in criminal trials. But as the case drags on for years, critics like Kevin Liles, the CEO of Warner Music Group’s 300 Entertainment, say the case has metastasized into something else.“From the absence of bond to the extraordinary weaponization of creative expression, this case has always been an outrage,” Liles tells Billboard. “Now as the longest trial in Georgia history and with no end in sight, it’s also become a farce.”For the full story, go read Jewel Wicker’s excellent deep dive into the Young Thug case – including how we got here, what experts think about the case, and what comes next.
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Other top stories this week…
SCOTUS COPYRIGHT RULING – The U.S. Supreme Court sided with a Florida music producer in a legal battle against Warner Music over a song by the rapper Flo Rida, ruling that copyright owners can recover money reaching back decades into the past. The decision in the case, which music companies had called “exceptionally important,” could encourage more accusers to try their hand at litigation over years-old songs.THIS ISN’T INFRINGEMENT – A federal appeals court affirmed a ruling last year dismissing a lawsuit that accused Donald Glover of ripping off his chart-topping Childish Gambino hit “This Is America” from an earlier song. A rapper named Kidd Wes had claimed that Glover’s 2018 Grammy winner was “practically identical” to a 2016 track called “Made In America,” but a lower court ruled last March that the two tracks were “entirely different.”50 CENT DEFAMATION CASE – The rapper filed a libel lawsuit against his ex Daphne Joy over her accusations that he raped and physically abused her, calling them a “calculated attack” of false allegations designed to destroy his reputation. The rapper claimed that Joy made her statements as retaliation after the he moved to take custody of their son – a step he claims he took in the wake of a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs that accused Joy of being a “sex worker.”PORTNOW RAPE CASE DROPPED – An unnamed woman who filed a lawsuit accusing former Recording Academy boss Neil Portnow of rape abruptly moved to drop her case, citing a concern that her real name will be revealed. The move came amid a split with her own lawyers, who told the judge they would withdraw from the case due to “irreconcilable differences” with Portnow’s accuser.ASTROWORLD TRIAL UPDATE – Settlements have been reached in nine of the 10 wrongful death lawsuits filed against Travis Scott, Live Nation and others over the deadly crowd surge at the 2021 Astroworld music festival, lawyers revealed at a court hearing last week, including the case that had been set to go to trial this month. The settlements leave pending one wrongful death suit to be tried – the one filed by the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount – as well as hundreds of lawsuits filed by people who were allegedly injured.DIDDY WANTS CASE TOSSED – Sean “Diddy” Combs asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio in 2003 — one of several abuse cases the rapper is currently facing. Attorneys for Combs argued that it was a “false and hideous claim” that was filed too late under the law.BRIAN WILSON CONSERVATORSHIP – A Los Angeles judge ruled Beach Boys founder and music luminary Brian Wilson should be placed under a conservatorship to manage his personal and medical decisions because of what his doctor calls a “major neurocognitive disorder.” The ruling, which came on a petition filed by Wilson’s family, appointed two longtime Wilson representatives, publicist Jean Sievers and manager LeeAnn Hard, as his conservators.NBA YOUNGBOY DRUG CHARGES – A judge in Utah set a $100,000 bond for rapper NBA YoungBoy, who faces dozens of new charges involving allegations that he orchestrated a fraudulent prescription operation while he lived under house arrest as he awaited trial on separate federal gun charges.
A federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit accusing Donald Glover of ripping off his chart-topping Childish Gambino hit “This Is America” from an earlier song.
In a ruling Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a judge’s decision last year dismissing the lawsuit, which claimed that Glover’s 2018 song was “practically identical” to a 2016 track called “Made In America” by a rapper named Kidd Wes.
The earlier ruling said Glover had done nothing wrong because the two songs were “entirely different.” But in Friday’s decision, the appeals court rejected the case for even simpler reasons: that Wes (Emelike Nwosuocha) had failed to secure the proper copyrights on his track.
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“Nwosuocha’s problem is that his copyright registration is simply for the wrong work,” the appeals court wrote. “That distinction is important.”
Released in 2018, “This Is America” spent two weeks atop the Hot 100 and eventually won record of the year and song of the year at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. It was accompanied by a critically acclaimed music video, directed by Hiro Murai, that touched on issues of race, mass shootings and police violence.
Nwosuocha sued in May 2021, claiming there were “unmissable” similarities between the song and his own “Made In America,” including the “flow” — the cadence, rhyming schemes, rhythm and other characteristics of hip hop lyrics. But in March 2023 ruling, Judge Victor Marrero sharply disagreed with the lawsuit’s allegations.
“A cursory comparison with the challenged composition reveals that the content of the choruses is entirely different and not substantially similar,” the judge wrote. “More could be said on the ways these songs differ, but no more airtime is needed to resolve this case.”
Nwosuocha appealed that ruling, seeking to revive his lawsuit against Glover. But in rejecting that appeal on Friday, the Second Circuit ruled that it didn’t even need to decide whether the songs were similar. Instead, it said the case also failed because Nwosuocha had secured a federal copyright registration only for the recording of the song, not for the underlying composition that he claimed Glover had copied.
“The distinction between a sound recording and a musical work is not just an administrative classification,” the judge wrote. “That statutory distinction is important because sound recordings and musical works are different artistic works that can be copyrighted by different creators and are infringed in different ways.”
Barring an unlikely trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, Friday’s ruling will permanently end Nwosuocha’s lawsuit against Glover. Neither side immediately returned a request for comment on Tuesday.
A judge in Utah has set a $100,000 bond for rapper NBA YoungBoy, who faces dozens of charges involving a fraudulent prescription operation he allegedly orchestrated.
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The 24-year-old rap artist, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, appeared Thursday (May 9) before Judge Spencer D. Walsh in a Cache County, Utah, court for the bond hearing, KUTV-TV reported.
Gaulden was arrested April 16 at his home in Huntsville, where he was on house arrest while awaiting trial on federal weapons charges. He faces 63 felonies and misdemeanors related to the fraudulent prescription operation, which included identity fraud, obtaining a prescription under false pretenses, forgery, possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, and possession of a controlled substance.
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Three others linked to the case are accused of traveling to nearby pharmacies to pick up prescriptions for pills that had been filled on bogus orders from people pretending to be real doctors.
The defense informed Walsh that the state agreed to a $100,000 bond in exchange for his waiving a preliminary hearing, where the state would have to convince a judge that a crime was committed and that it was committed by the defendant. His arraignment was set for July 1 at which time he will enter a plea, the television station reported.
“You’ll be brought over from the Cache County Jail assuming you’re still incarcerated,” Walsh said.
On April 26, additional charges related to the prescription fraud case were filed against Gaulden in Weber County, including a second-degree felony count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person and two Class A misdemeanor counts of distributing a controlled substance. He was held without bond in that case.
Authorities said Gaulden will at some point be transferred back to federal custody in the U.S. Middle District Court of Louisiana where he faces a July 15 trial on a possession of a firearm charge in Baton Rouge. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, who is presiding over the federal case, signed an order May 2 postponing the trial to a date yet to be determined as several pending motions in the case play out, court records show.
The weapons charge stems from a 2020 music video shoot. Baton Rouge police rounded up Gaulden and 15 others after swarming the video shoot and finding pistols and assault rifles hidden in the area, arrest reports indicate.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorneys office in Baton Rouge confirmed Thursday that when Gaulden is ultimately released from Utah state custody he’ll be detained by federal authorities, The Advocate reported.
Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday (May 10) asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio in 2003, saying it was a “false and hideous claim” that was filed too late under the law.
The legal move is the latest piece of pushback from the 54-year-old hip-hop mogul and his legal team after he was subjected to several similar lawsuits and a subsequent criminal sex-trafficking investigation.
“Mr. Combs and his companies categorically deny Plaintiff’s decades-old tale against them, which has caused incalculable damage to their reputations and business standing before any evidence has been presented,” says the filing, which also names Combs-owned corporations as defendants. “Plaintiff cannot allege what day or time of year the alleged incident occurred, but miraculously remembers other salacious details, despite her alleged incapacitated condition.”
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The lawsuit was filed in December and amended in March by the woman who now lives in Canada whose name wasn’t disclosed in the court filing. She said she was in 11th grade at a high school in a Detroit suburb in 2003, when Harve Pierre, then the president of Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment record label, flew her to New York on a private jet and took her to a recording studio, where she was given drugs and alcohol until she was incapable of consenting to sex. Then, the lawsuit said, Pierre, Combs and a man she didn’t know took turns raping her.
The lawsuit included photographs of the woman sitting on Combs’ lap that she said were taken on the night in question.
The defense filing asks that the case be “dismissed now, with prejudice” — meaning it cannot be refiled — “to protect the Combs Defendants from further reputational injury and before more party and judicial resources are squandered.”
At this early stage in the lawsuit, the arguments are procedural rather than on the facts of the case.
Some of the lawsuits filed against Combs involve decades-old allegations and are among the more than 3,700 legal claims filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily suspended certain legal deadlines to give sexual assault victims a last opportunity to sue over abuse that happened years or even decades ago.
The new deadlines established by that law expired, but the suit Combs filed the motion against Friday was brought under a different law, New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law. That city law also allows accusers to file civil complaints involving sexual assault claims after the statute of limitations has run out.
But Combs’ motion argues that suit was filed too late, because the city law is preempted by the state law, whose provisions mean the lawsuit needed to be filed by August of 2021 to be timely.
“New York state law trumps New York City law, without exception,” the filing says.
The amended version of the lawsuit filed in March sought to address some of these issues, but Combs’ attorneys argue that it didn’t go far enough. The judge has ruled the woman will need to reveal her name if the lawsuit moves forward after this challenge.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused, unless they come forward publicly, as some of Combs’ accusers have done.
Friday’s defense filing also criticizes the suit for including “a bolded, legally irrelevant ‘trigger warning’ calculated to focus attention on its salacious and depraved allegations.”
The public airing of allegations against Combs began with a November lawsuit by the singer Cassie, his former protege and girlfriend, containing allegations of beatings, rape and other abuse between 2005 and 2018. The suit, filed by Douglas Wigdor, the same attorney who filed the suit being challenged Friday, was settled the day after it was filed. Combs denied the allegations through his lawyer before the settlement.
More lawsuits against Combs were filed in the following months. Then on March 25, Homeland Security Investigations served search warrants on his homes in Los Angeles and Miami in a sex-trafficking investigation. His lawyer called it “a gross use of military-level force.” The investigation is continuing. Combs has not been charged.
Last month, Combs filed a motion to dismiss a suit filed by Joi Dickerson, who said she was a 19-year-old college student when Combs drugged her and sexually assaulted her.
Wigdor did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new filing. He said in a statement in December that the “depravity of these abhorrent acts has, not surprisingly, scarred our client for life.”
Nine of the 10 wrongful death lawsuits filed after a deadly crowd surge at the 2021 Astroworld music festival have been settled, including one that was set to go to trial this week, an attorney said Wednesday.
Jury selection had been set to begin Tuesday in the wrongful death suit filed by the family of Madison Dubiski, a 23-year-old Houston resident who was one of 10 people killed during the crowd crush at the Nov. 5, 2021, concert by rap superstar Travis Scott.
But Neal Manne, an attorney for Live Nation, the festival’s promoter and one of those being sued along with Scott, said during a court hearing Wednesday that only one wrongful death lawsuit remained pending and the other nine have been settled, including the one filed by Dubiski’s family.
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Terms of the settlements were confidential and attorneys declined to comment after the court hearing because of a gag order in the case.
The one wrongful death lawsuit that remains pending was filed by the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount, the youngest person killed during the concert. Attorneys in the litigation were set to meet next week to discuss when the lawsuit filed by Blount’s family could be set for trial.
“This case is ready for trial,” Scott West, an attorney for Blount’s family, said in court.
But Manne said he and the lawyers for other defendants being sued were not ready.
State District judge Kristen Hawkins said she planned to discuss the Blount case at next week’s hearing along with potential trials related to the injury cases filed after the deadly concert.
Hawkins said that if the Blount family’s lawsuit is not settled, she is inclined to schedule that as the next trial instead of an injury case.
More than 4,000 plaintiffs filed hundreds of lawsuits after the concert. Manne said about 2,400 injury cases remain pending.
The announcement that nearly all of the wrongful death lawsuits have been settled came after the trial in Dubiski’s case was put on hold last week. Apple Inc., which livestreamed Scott’s concert and was one of the more than 20 defendants being sued by Dubiski’s family, had appealed a court ruling that denied its request to be dismissed from the case. An appeals court granted Apple a stay in the case.
In the days after the trial stay, attorneys for Dubiski’s family settled their lawsuit with all the defendants in the case, including Apple, Scott and Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment company.
At least four wrongful death lawsuits had previously been settled and announced in court records. But Wednesday was the first time that lawyers in the litigation had given an update that nine of the 10 wrongful death lawsuits had been resolved.
Lawyers for Dubiski’s family as well as attorneys representing the various other plaintiffs have alleged in court filings that the deaths and hundreds of injuries at the concert were caused by negligent planning and a lack of concern over capacity and safety at the event.
Those killed, who ranged in age from 9 to 27, died from compression asphyxia, which an expert likened to being crushed by a car.
Scott, Live Nation and the others who’ve been sued have denied these claims, saying safety was their number one concern. They said what happened could not have been foreseen.
After a police investigation, a grand jury last year declined to indict Scott, along with five others connected to the festival.
A woman who filed a lawsuit accusing former Recording Academy boss Neil Portnow of rape is now moving to drop her case, citing concerns that her name will be revealed and a dispute with her own lawyers.
In a letter filed Sunday without the help of her attorneys, the Jane Doe accuser told a Manhattan federal judge she was “unable to proceed with the case” because of “fear of potential grave harm” if her name is disclosed in court documents, as Portnow’s attorneys have formally requested.
“The circumstances surrounding this case have created a genuine concern for my safety, and emotional well-being,” the woman wrote in the letter, obtained by Billboard. “Dismissing the case would alleviate this fear and allow me to move forward without unnecessary risks.”
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A day after the unusual letter, the woman’s lawyer moved to withdraw from the case immediately, saying the relationship with his client had “deteriorated beyond repair.”
“Unbeknownst to counsel, plaintiff filed a letter on this court’s docket requesting voluntary dismissal of her case,” Doe’s attorney Jeffrey Anderson wrote. “Plaintiff’s action in filing it demonstrates the irreconcilable differences that provide a basis for withdrawal.”
The news of Sunday’s letter was first reported Wednesday by the New York Times.
The unnamed woman sued Portnow in November, claiming that he had drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2018. She also named the Recording Academy as a defendant, saying that the group’s negligence had enabled Portnow’s conduct. The case was part of a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits filed against powerful men in the music industry in late 2023.
But on Sunday, she sent a letter directly to the judge without the aid of her attorneys, announcing that she wanted to drop the case. The Jane Doe said that it was “impossible for me to proceed with the case in all aspects” and that dismissing the case would be in “the best interest of all parties.”
The sudden reversal appears to have been sparked by efforts from Portnow’s attorneys to force her to reveal her name. In an April filing, his lawyers claimed that she wanted to “use anonymity as a shield” while embarking on a “public relations campaign to destroy Mr. Portnow’s reputation.”
A previous ruling, when the case had originally been filed in state court, had allowed the Jane Doe to proceed under the pseudonym. But Portnow’s lawyers said that ruling had no binding effect on the case after it had been moved to federal court in January.
In a response last week, Doe’s lawyers argued that disclosure motion should be denied. Citing his client’s “fears of stigma and emotional distress,” Anderson warned that “public identification puts plaintiff at risk of retaliatory harm” and could deter other abuse victims from coming forward.
But in her letter to the judge on Sunday, Doe said that her lawyers had privately disclosed to her on April 26 that they believed Portnow’s demand to reveal her would be granted. She quoted from emails in which another attorney told her: “Our view is that they will prevail on that motion and your name will be made public which will cause harm to you and your reputation.” Anderson allegedly wrote that the move to federal court meant that “your name can no longer be protected” and she faced “grave further harm.”
Doe also claimed that Anderson had informed her that he would no longer be representing her in the case, telling her in a May 1 letter that “the best route would be for you to find a new attorney.” She warned the judge that he had “ignored” her requests for more information, and that his public opposition filing to Portnow’s disclosure demands “did not accurately reflect my position.”
“This misrepresentation has significant implications for the case,” Doe wrote in her direct letter to the judge on Sunday. “I am deeply concerned about its impact.”
Anderson did not return a request for comment from Billboard on Wednesday.
In court filings on Tuesday, attorneys for both Portnow and the Recording Academy asked the judge for more time to consider how to proceed after Doe’s request for voluntary dismissal. Neither immediately responded to requests for comment.
The dispute in the Portnow case comes two months after a different federal judge ruled that one of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ accusers would have to reveal her name to proceed in her case. In a February ruling, the judge acknowledged that disclosure “could have a significant impact,” but that allowing cases to proceed under a pseudonym in the U.S. court system was “the exception and not the rule” and that “generalized, uncorroborated” concerns about privacy were not enough.
50 Cent has filed a defamation lawsuit against his ex Daphne Joy over her public accusations that he raped and physically abused her, calling them a “calculated attack” of false allegations designed to destroy his reputation.
In a case filed Monday in Houston court, the rapper (real name Curtis Jackson) says Joy (Daphne Joy Narvaez) made her claims as retaliation after the rapper sought legal action to take sole custody of their son in the wake of a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs that accused Joy of being a “sex worker.”
50 Cent’s lawyers say the allegations against him were nothing more than an attempt to “destroy his personal and business reputation, harm Jackson’s commercial and business interests, negatively affect his custody case, and prevent him from seeing his son.”
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“As apparently intended by Narvaez, Jackson has been subjected to extensive public ridicule, hatred, and contempt,” his attorneys write in the complaint, obtained by Billboard. “Jackson brings this action for defamation…in order to vindicate his rights and protect his reputation from Narvaez’s calculated attack.”
Included as an exhibit to Monday’s lawsuit is a letter the rapper’s attorneys sent to Joy last month, demanding that she remove the posts and issue a retraction. They say she responded by demanding “millions of dollars” and for 50 Cent to drop his custody case in return for removal of the post.
“Narvaez refuses to take down or remove the defamatory post unless he complies with extortive demands, including the payment of large sums of money and forfeiting his meritorious custody action,” Jackson’s lawyers write.
Joy could not immediately be reached for comment.
The dispute dates back to March, when Joy’s name was mentioned in a wide-ranging sexual abuse lawsuit filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs by Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones. In that complaint, Jones claimed that Combs had “bragged” about paying Joy and other women a “monthly stipend” for sex.
Days later, Joy posted a scathing statement about Jackson to Instagram: “Let’s put the real focus on your true evil actions of raping me and physically abusing me,” she wrote at the time. “You are no longer my oppressor and my God will handle you from this point on.”
In his lawsuit on Monday, Jackson says that Joy’s blistering accusations were a response to his decision to “take legal action” to seek custody of their 11-year old son Sire in the wake of the lawsuit against Diddy. “Upon learning of the troubling allegations in the Combs litigation, Jackson came to the reasonable conclusion that it was not in his child’s best interest for Narvaez to have full custody,” the suit states.
Courts have made it difficult for “public figures” like a famous rapper to sue for defamation. They must prove that someone like Joy made her statements with “actual malice” – meaning she knew they were false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. But in Monday’s complaint, 50 Cent’s lawyers say Joy’s “unequivocally false” statements meet that difficult standard.
“Narvaez knows that Jackson did not rape or physically abuse her, yet she knowingly published the false statements to her almost 2 million followers on Instagram,” 50’s lawyers write. “Narvaez published the defamatory post, and refuses to remove it, out of sheer hatred and ill will toward Jackson.”