sexual assault
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More than six months after Jimmie Allen was first sued for sexual assault, the country star is splitting with his lawyers — and one of his accusers claims he’s delaying the case by doing so.
In a court filing last month obtained by Billboard, Allen’s lawyers, Jonathan Cole and Katelyn R. Dwyer from the prominent Tennessee law firm Baker Donelson, asked to withdraw from the case, saying the singer had been “unable to comply” with the terms of his representation agreement.
The filings (first reported by The Tennessean) contained no other details about the reason for Allen’s split with his lawyers. But they quickly prompted a response from his accuser’s attorney, who argued last week in her own filing that Allen had already cycled through three different law firms over the past year — and that he was stalling the case in the process.
“Allen has a track record of moving through attorneys,” wrote Elizabeth A. Fegan, counsel for Allen’s Jane Doe accusers. “These tactics are part of Allen’s continuing pattern of conduct to forestall plaintiff’s right to gather discovery to pursue her claims.”
After nearly eight months of litigation, Fegan argued that Allen had thus far “failed to produce the most basic information” during “discovery” — referring to the legal process in which key evidence is exchanged during a lawsuit. She claimed that Allen’s current attorneys at Baker Donelson are in possession of some materials, but that they “do not intend to produce it” before they withdraw from the case.
A rep for Allen did not immediately return a request for comment on the new dispute.
Allen, a once-rising country music star, was sued twice last year for sexual assault — first by a member of his management team who claims he harassed and assaulted her, then again by a woman who says he assaulted her in a Las Vegas hotel room and secretly recorded it. Both women sued as anonymous Jane Does.
The current filings only apply to the first case filed by the Jane Doe who served on Allen’s management team. Fegan did not oppose Cole and Dwyer’s similar motion to withdraw from the second case over the alleged Las Vegas incident, and that request was granted last week.
Allen has strongly denied all the accusations, saying he would “mount a vigorous defense.” He later counter-sued both women, accusing the management employee of defaming him and claiming that the other woman had stolen the phone he allegedly used to record her.
According to the new filings by Fegan (who represents both Doe accusers), when she first contacted Allen regarding her clients’ accusations, he was represented by Frost Brown Todd LLP, another well-known regional law firm. She said she later corresponded with another lawyer (Andrew Brettler of the firm Berk Brettler LLP) before Cole and Dwyer, the attorneys from Baker Donelson, appeared as Allen’s formal counsel when the lawsuit was filed in court.
Since then, she claimed Allen has “not responded to or provided any information pursuant to any of plaintiff’s discovery requests.” Given that there are “impending deadlines” — including a February cut-off for discovery — Fegan argued that allowing Cole and Dwyer to withdraw from the case would result in “severe prejudice.” Instead, she asked for a court order forcing them to turn over key information about the current status of the discovery process before they leave the case.
“Without this information, Plaintiff is unable to diligently prosecute her claims, meet the Court’s current deadlines, or adequately prepare for depositions,” Fegan wrote.
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High-profile figures in Hip-Hop continue to be hit with sexual assault accusations. In the latest, rapper T.I. and his wife, R&B singer Tiny, have been sued for sexual assault and sexual battery in Los Angeles.
TMZ reports that the couple have been sued by a Jane Doe who claims that she was drugged after meeting in a nightclub. The woman claims her drink was spiked before she was taken to a hotel where they allegedly engaged in a threesome, per her lawsuit.
The Jane Doe claims she was a member of the U.S. Air Force and located in L.A. around 2005 when she met a man named “Caviar,” who allegedly worked for T.I. and Tiny, at a party at the late rapper Coolio’s home. According to the lawsuit, although T.I. and Tiny never made it to the party, Caviar relayed that they should all meet the next day at a nightclub in Los Angeles.
However, the woman claims it was all a setup.
Reports TMZ:
The woman says she ordered 2 Amaretto sours on her own, before Tiny allegedly handed her another drink … one from which she never saw Tiny sip, and which the woman also shared with her friend.
When T.I. decided to leave the club, the woman claims he asked her to ride with Tiny and him … while her friend would ride with “Caviar,” who said they were all going to the same place.
But, that’s not how it played out, allegedly … in the suit, the woman says 2 other women she didn’t know got in an SUV with Tiny, T.I. and herself, and all 5 of them ended up in a hotel room — but Tiny kicked out the other 2 women, because one was flirting too much with T.I.
And then things took an extra sordid turn, allegedly.
Once it was just the 3 of them … she alleges Tiny took her into the bathroom, where she took off both of their clothes and then a naked T.I. joined them and they all got in the shower.
Afterward, she claims she was starting to feel lightheaded and extremely dizzy, and T.I. told her to go to the bed. While he watched some porn, she alleges he handed her massage oil and demanded she give him a rub down. Eventually, Tiny joined them and allegedly pinned the woman on her stomach and began rubbing and grinding her naked body on the plaintiff.
While that was happening, she alleges T.I. penetrated her vagina with his toe, and she told him “no” as she tried to push him away. According to the suit, he got up and said he was going to get a condom — but the plaintiff says she went to the bathroom to vomit. She claims T.I. mockingly laughed at her and said, “Are you alright? Looks like you in last place.”
The plaintiff claim that she woke up the next morning with her vagina in pain. She is suing T.I. & Tiny for sexual battery, assault, negligence and false imprisonment.
The Harris’ vehemently deny the charges.
“On the heels of positivity, negativity always rears its ugly head,” said T.I. and Tiny in a joint statement to TMZ. :This plaintiff has been threatening to file this lawsuit for THREE years. For THREE years, we have emphatically and categorically denied these allegations. For THREE years we have maintained our innocence and refused to pay these extortionate demands for things we didn’t do. For THREE years, we’ve maintained the same position while the claims in this story have changed time and time again. Our position is clear… We are innocent of these fake claims, we will not be shaken down, and we look forward to our day in court.”
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You can add Vin Diesel to the list of celebrities who now have a bad name, allegedly. The actor’s former assistant is now accusing him of sexual battery.
Vanity Fair is reporting that the man born Mark Sinclair is facing some very serious allegations. Asta Jonasson says she worked for the movie star during the filming of Fast Five back in 2010. According to the paperwork, Jonasson claims she was hired to support Vin in his day to day duties which ranged from organizing his schedule to attending events with him. Asta says in September of that year that Vin Diesel groped her at his suite in the St. Regis Hotel.
“Ms. Jonasson was afraid to more forcibly refuse her supervisor, knowing that getting him out of that room was both crucial to her personal safety and job security,” the documentation reads. “But this hope died when Vin Diesel dropped to his knees, pushed Ms. Jonasson’s dress up toward her waist, and molested her body, running his hands over Ms. Jonasson’s upper legs, including her inner thighs.” She says that he then pinned her to the wall and pleasured himself. Hours later Asta received a phone call from Vin’s sister Samantha Vincent who informed her that she was terminated from her job.
Bryan Freedman, Vin Diesel’s attorney, gave an exclusive statement to Vanity Fair refuting the allegations. “Let me be very clear: Vin Diesel categorically denies this claim in its entirety” he said. “This is the first he has ever heard about this more than 13-year-old claim made by a purportedly 9-day employee. There is clear evidence which completely refutes these outlandish allegations.”
Vin Diesel has yet to comment on the matter.
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Diddy continues to lose out on multiple bags due to the sexual assault lawsuits levied against him.
Spotted on Variety, a reality show in early production following the embattled music mogul and his family, has been scrapped by Hulu.
The website reports that the show was being developed with the working title Diddy+7 and James Corden’s production company, Fulwell 73, producing.
The scrapped reality show is the latest blow to the Diddy, born Sean Combs’ crumbling empire following the multiple sexual assault lawsuits that came after his ex-girlfriend, singer/actor/model Cassie Ventura alleged that 54-year-old raped and beat her for over a decade.
Combs denied any wrongdoing and would eventually settle with Cassie one day later, but that was not the end of his problems.
Cassie Broke The Damn
A week later, the hits kept coming when Joi Dickerson-Neal said that she was “drugged, sexually assaulted and abused” by Diddy and the victim of “revenge porn” that was created and distributed by the rapper.
A third lawsuit from a woman calling herself Jane Doe came alleging that Diddy and R&B singer and former member of Guy Aaron Hall “took turns raping her and her friends” and Hall’s apartment sometime between 1990 and 1991.
In another lawsuit, another Jane Doe said Combs, Bad Boy Entertainment president Harve Pierre, and a third man raped her when she was 17.
Diddy finally decided to break his silence on December 6 with a statement shared on Instagram and it read:
“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
Welp.
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A California appeals court ruled Wednesday (Dec. 13) that Marilyn Manson’s former assistant can sue him for sexual assault, overturning an earlier decision that said she waited too long to bring her case.
In a 24-page opinion, California’s Second Appellate District revived a lawsuit filed by Ashley Walters that claims Manson subjected her to brutal treatment, including sexual harassment and discrimination, during the year that she worked for him from 2010 to 2011.
A lower court had ruled last year that Walters’ lawsuit, filed in 2021, was barred by the statute of limitations, which requires such cases to be filed within two years. But on Wednesday, the appeals court said Walters’ case was fair game under the so-called delayed discovery rule, as she claims the trauma of the incidents caused her to suppress the memories until 2020.
“Until she received diagnosis and treatment, Walters [says she] was unable to remember the repressed events, and once she did recall them, she was unable to immediately identify these events as abuse,” the court wrote. “These allegations of suppressed memories and psychological blocking are sufficient to withstand [dismissal].”
A representative for Manson declined to comment on the ruling. An attorney for Walters did not immediately return a request for comment.
Walters was one of several women who accused Manson of sexual abuse in 2021. His former fiancé Evan Rachel Wood accused him of grooming and sexual abuse on Twitter in February 2021, and then others, including Game of Thrones actress Esmé Bianco and model Ashley Morgan Smithine, filed lawsuits against him.
Manson has denied all of the accusations, and several of the cases have been dismissed or settled. Manson later sued Wood for defamation, claiming she had “secretly recruited, coordinated, and pressured” other women to make such allegations, though that case was largely dismissed earlier this year.
In her lawsuit, Walters claimed that Manson subjected her to “sexual exploitation, manipulation and psychological abuse” while she worked for him as a personal assistant. The alleged abuse included whipping her and throwing her against a wall in a “a drug-induced rage”; forcing her to stay awake for 48 hours by feeding her cocaine; and having “offered” her sexually to friends and associates.
In June 2022, the case was dismissed for being filed past the statute of limitations. Walters argued then that she had suppressed the memories of Manson’s abuse until other women began coming forward, but the judge said during a hearing that he had not seen “sufficient facts” to invoke the delayed-discovery rule.
In Wednesday’s ruling overturning that decision, the appeals court did not say that Walters’ accusations against Manson were true. Instead, it merely said that her allegations were enough for the case to survive being dismissed at the outset. The court recounted various claims that, if proven true, would mean that Walters had truly not discovered the abuse until 2020.
“The complaint described the support group Walters joined in October 2020 and recounted the stories shared by the other abused women that ‘began to unlock new memories [Walters] repressed long ago as a result of her psychological trauma by being manipulated and threatened by Warner during and after her employment,’” the court wrote. “The complaint also described how Walters began therapy in November 2020 and was diagnosed the following month with complex posttraumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.”
The ruling sends the case back to the trial court, where the parties will engage in more litigation, conduct discovery and move toward an eventual trial.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and need support and/or resources, reach out to RAINN and the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE) for free, confidential help 24/7.
Former Grammys CEO Mike Greene and the Recording Academy are facing a lawsuit alleging Greene sexually assaulted an Academy employee in the 1990s.
In a complaint filed Wednesday (Dec. 6) in Los Angeles court, Terri McIntyre claims that during her tenure at the Academy from 1994 to 1996, she was “forced to endure pervasive, incessant and routine sexual harassment and/or sexual assault” from Greene, who oversaw the Grammys ceremony for 14 years.
The lawsuit accuses Greene of sexual assault and battery and accuses the Academy itself of negligence and other forms of wrongdoing for allegedly enabling the abuse, including by trying to “actively cover-up, conceal and/or repeatedly excuse Greene’s sexual misconduct.”
Greene did not immediately return a request for comment. In a statement, the Academy said: “In light of pending litigation, the Academy declines to comment on these allegations, which occurred nearly 30 years ago. Today’s Recording Academy has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sexual misconduct and we will remain steadfast in that commitment.”
The new case comes just weeks after another former Recording Academy CEO, Neil Portnow, was sued by an unnamed female musician who says he drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2018. That case, which also named the Academy as a defendant, was filed by the same law firm as Wednesday’s new suit.
Greene, who transformed the Grammy Awards from an industry ritual into a global television event, abruptly resigned from the Academy in 2002 amid accusations of sexual harassment. Though an internal Academy investigation cleared him of wrongdoing and he was paid an $8 million severance, Greene had long been dogged by criticism that ran the organization “almost as a personal fiefdom.”
In Wednesday’s lawsuit, McIntyre says that shortly after starting her “dream job” as the Academy’s Los Angeles chapter executive director in 1994, Greene began to sexually harass her — including by allegedly telling her directly that “he expected plaintiff to perform sex acts for defendant Greene in order to remain employed and progress at defendant Academy.”
“Defendant Greene repeatedly told plaintiff that she needed to ‘give some head to get ahead’,” her lawyers write in the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, harassment then progressed into assault. McIntyre claims that after she drank champagne with Greene and others in his hotel room during a May 1994 work trip to Hawaii, she “quickly began to feel unwell and began to lose control of her physical movements.” She says she then awoke nude in his bed the next morning.
“Plaintiff knew what defendant had done to her,” her lawyers write. “Plaintiff felt wetness between her legs and smelled of intercourse.”
McIntyre says she did not report the incident because Greene “held the power to effectively block her from any further positions in the music industry.” But she claims that he continued to subject her to harassment and unwanted touching, including “groping her buttocks” and breasts.
In another incident, McIntyre says Greene brought her to his home under the guise of a work meeting but then forced her to perform oral sex on him, including by grabbing her by the back of the head and forcing her to continue as she “tried to get away.”
When she finally reported Greene’s behavior to her supervisor, McIntyre says she was told that she “should just find a way to get along” with Green and that if she could not do so, she “would not be successful, or employed, at defendant Academy for very long.”
The lawsuit says McIntyre later resigned and was forced to quit the music industry entirely, moving to her hometown and applying for entry-level jobs. “Plaintiff came to understand that her hopes, dreams, and aspirations to work in the music industry were defunct and unreachable,” her lawyers say, after she spent two years “being prey to a predator that defendant Academy could have stopped.”
McIntyre’s case was filed under California’s AB 2777, a state law that created a temporary window for survivors of sexual assault to file lawsuits that would normally be barred by the statute of limitations. The law, which doesn’t expire until 2026, is similar to New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which led to a flurry of sexual abuse cases in that state over the past month.
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A fourth alleged victim has come forward to file a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs, but this time he isn’t staying quiet. The Bad Boy Records founder issued a statement saying “enough is enough” while adamantly denying all the accusations of sexual assault and abuse against him.
On Wednesday, December 6, a Jane Doe filed a lawsuit against Diddy accusing him of sexual assaulting her when she was a 17-year-old high-school student. This is the fourth in a series of lawsuits that began when his ex-girlfriend and ex-Bad Boy Records artist Casandra “Cassie” Ventura sued Diddy and accused him of years of sexual abuse. The case was quickly settled, but two more women, one publicly and another a Jane Doe, came forward with their own lawsuits, the latter also alleging that she was sexually assaulted by Diddy and R&B singer Aaron Hall.
Reportedly, the same lawyers who filed the complaint on Cassie’s behalf also handled the latest lawsuit, which also comes with a “trigger warning.”
Diddy took to social media to adamantly deny any and all allegations. “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” says the all-caps statement. “FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS, I HAVE SAT SILENTLY AND WATCHED PEOPLE TRY TO ASSASSINATE MY CHARACTER, DESTROY MY REPUTATION AND MY LEGACY. SICKENING ACCUSATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE AGAINST ME BY INDIVIDUALS LOOKING FOR A QUICK PAYDAY.”
He added, “LET ME BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR. I DID NOT DO ANY OF THE AWFUL THINGS BEING ALLEGED. I WILL FIGHT FOR MY NAME, MY FAMILY AND FOR THE TRUTH.”
Per Variety, the most recent, Diddy as well as former Bad Boy Records exec Harve Pierre, is accused of gang raping a 17-year-old girl in 2003. The victim alleges that she was flown out from her Detroit home via private jet to New York City, where after being given “copious amounts” of alcohol and drugs Diddy raped her over a bathroom sink while she went in and out of consciousness. She also claims that she was raped by Pierre and a third man.
The complaint, which was filed in New York State Federal Court, also includes blurred-out photos of the victim in Combs’ old Daddy’s House studio and sitting in the mogul’s lap.
The detailed allegations have led to a field day on social media. We’ve compiled some of the more poignant reactions in the gallery. Be mindful that some of them can be triggering.
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Of course, Suge Knight would have something to add to the list of sexual assault allegations against Diddy.
Spotted on HipHopDX, Diddy’s longtime nemesis and former Death Row CEO, Suge Knight, became the latest person to throw a big handful of salt in the Bad Boy mogul’s open wound.
In the latest episode of his podcast from jail, Collect Call with Suge Knight (how this is possible is another question), Knight talked about his storied rivalry with Diddy, used the opportunity to take a shot at him, and brought up more allegations against Brother Love.
“What Puffy done, what Puffy did, or what Puffy do, is not a surprise — everybody know what it is,” he said. “I mean, you gotta be able to that type of shit to a woman and to other women. But it’s not like it’s new news,” Knight said.
Speaking with his co-host Dave Mays, Knight brought up the Cassie situation, alleging that Puffy put his hands on a female assistant who didn’t tell him about Cassie’s fling with Kid Cudi, which also led to the “Mr Rager” crafter’s car being allegedly blown up.
“Same time he beat the shit outta muthaf***ing Cassie, he had an assistant by the name of Capricorn,” Knight continued. “He felt Cap was keepin’ this shit on the low about if she was messin’ with Cudi or not. Puffy beat the sh*t out that b***h.”
“Not only did he beat the shit out of her, it was an Interscope person, an Interscope check, that paid her to settle so he wouldn’t go to jail.”
Suge Knight Got Jokes
Knight, currently serving a 28-year-long prison sentence, wasn’t done taking shots at Diddy. He even joked about life in prison for the Revolt CEO if he shared a cell with him.
“Puffy, I don’t wanna see you go down, but if you need a celly, I’m a grant your ass my cell, boy! Have your cook game working. I don’t want no head, but you gon’ be cleaning toilets,” Knight joked.
You can listen to the entire podcast below if you have time to waste.
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Two more women have come forward to accuse Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual abuse, one week after the music mogul settled a separate lawsuit with the singer Cassie that contained allegations of rape and physical abuse.
Both of the new suits were filed Thursday (Nov. 23) on the eve of the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law permitting victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file civil action regardless of the statute of limitations.
The filings detail acts of sexual assault, beatings and forced drugging allegedly committed in the early 1990s by Combs, then a talent director, party promoter and rising figure in New York City’s hip-hop community.
One of the accusers, Joi Dickerson, said she was a 19-year-old student at Syracuse University when she agreed to meet Combs at a restaurant in Harlem in 1991. After their date, Combs “intentionally drugged” her, then brought her home and sexually assaulted her, according to the filing.
Without her knowledge, Combs videotaped the assault and later shared it with several friends in the music industry, the suit alleges. The public exposure sent Dickerson into a “tailspin,” contributing to severe depression that landed her in the hospital and forced her to drop out of college.
In a separate lawsuit filed Thursday, an unnamed woman accused Combs and an R&B singer, Aaron Hall, of sexually assaulting her and a friend, then beating her several days later.
The woman — identified only as Jane Doe — said that she and her roommate returned to Hall’s home with him and Combs after a music industry event in 1990 or 1991. The accuser said she was coerced into having sex with Combs. Afterward, as she was getting dressed, “Hall barged into the room, pinned her down and forced Jane Doe to have sex with him,” the suit states.
When the victim later spoke to her friend, who is also not named, she learned that her friend “had been forced to have sex with Combs and Hall in another room,” according to the suit. “Upon information and belief, when Combs finished with Jane Doe, he and Hall switched, and they commenced assaulting Jane Doe’s friend,” the suit states.
A few days later, an “irate” Combs allegedly showed up at the home of the two women in an attempt to stop them from speaking out about the abuse. He then choked the woman identified as Jane Doe until she passed out, the suit states.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Combs denied the allegations, accusing the two women of seeking to exploit the New York law that temporarily extended the statute of limitations.
An email inquiry to Hall was not returned.
Tyrone Blackburn, an attorney for the unnamed accuser, said his client was in the process of securing medical documents and witness statements to support her suit, which was filed late Thursday “in an effort to preserve the statute of limitations.”
The suit brought by Dickerson notes that the victim filed police reports in New York and New Jersey after the abuse. Inquiries to the New York City Police Department were not immediately returned. It was not clear which other jurisdictions the reports may have been filed.
After the filmed assault, Dickerson said she approached friends in the music industry asking them to confirm the existence of the “revenge porn” tape, but was rebuffed by those who were “terrified that Combs would retaliate against them and that they would lose future business and music opportunities.”
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Dickerson has done.
In years after the alleged assaults, Combs, now 54, would found his own label, Bad Boys Records, helping to produce Mary J. Blige and Biggie Smalls on his way to becoming one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives in the genre’s history.
The pair of lawsuits follow a separate set of explosive allegations made last week by Cassie Ventura, who said that Combs subjected her to a pattern of abuse during their yearslong relationship, which began in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37.
Among the allegations, Ventura said Combs plied her with drugs, subjected her to “savage” beatings, and forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he masturbated and filmed them. When she tried to end the relationship in 2018, Combs raped her, she alleged.
The lawsuit was settled one day after it was filed for an undisclosed sum.
In a statement shared by her lawyers, Ventura said she wanted to resolve this matter “on terms that I have some level of control.”
Combs said: “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love.”
Jamie Foxx has been accused of sexual assault and battery by a young woman who claims the singer and actor groped her at a New York restaurant in 2015.
The complaint was filed in New York court on Wednesday (Nov. 22) by attorney Craig Phemister. In it, the Jane Doe plaintiff claims she met an allegedly intoxicated Foxx at the Catch NYC restaurant rooftop in August 2015 and, along with a friend, asked if he would take photos with them.
The woman claims that after taking photos with Foxx, he made several flirtatious comments before subsequently pulling her to a “secluded area.” There, she claims he rubbed her breasts before sliding his hands into her pants and placing “his fingers on and in” her vagina and anus despite her attempts to step away from him. She says he only stopped after her friend came looking for her, at which point she claims he walked away.
The woman, who says she was 18 at the time, claims that in the aftermath of the alleged assault, she “was injured; was rendered sick, sore, lame and disabled; was caused to undergo medical treatment and advice; was unable to pursue her usual and regular activities; was caused to undergo great conscious pain and suffering, continues to undergo such, and will permanently be affected by the injuries and emotional distress she incurred as a result of the sexual assault, abuse, assault and battery.”
Also named in the lawsuit are Catch Hospitality Group, which owns the New York restaurant, as well as its co-founder, Mark Birnbaum, whom the woman claims was drinking with Foxx at his table that night. She alleges that Birnbaum, the hospitality group and associated companies “were negligent in the hiring, training, lack of supervision, management, control and retention of their employees,” including several (listed as John/Jane Does 1-10) whom she says were working at the restaurant that night.
The lawsuit additionally claims that Foxx’s co-defendants “had knowledge of [his] propensities for aggressive behavior towards females, the potential for unwanted sexual touching and his bad disposition when consuming excessive alcohol.” The suit adds that restaurant staff were not properly trained “how to observe when a patron such as Foxx has consumed an excessive amount of alcohol and should not be served any more, and in otherwise ensuring the safety of their patrons from unwanted and abusive sexual touching.” It also claims the restaurant did not provide adequate security to protect its guests, thereby making the alleged assault possible.
All defendants are additionally accused of violating New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act — Foxx for the alleged assault and Birnbaum and the companies for allegedly enabling it.
The woman is seeking damages for pain and suffering and economic loss as well as punitive damages.
Representatives for Foxx, Birnbaum and Catch Hospitality Group did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s requests for comment.
The case against Foxx is just the latest in a string of sexual misconduct lawsuits filed over the last month against men in the music industry, including industry executives like L.A. Reid and Jimmy Iovine and superstar artists including Axl Rose and Sean “Diddy” Combs (who settled the lawsuit brought by his accuser, former girlfriend and R&B singer Cassie, one day after it was filed). The spike in cases is due to the looming expiration at midnight Thursday (Nov. 23) of New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which created a one-year window for alleged survivors to take legal action over years-old accusations that would typically be barred under the statute of limitations.