A judge has struck down Jay-Z’s extortion and defamation lawsuit against Tony Buzbee, the personal injury attorney who filed shocking rape allegations against the rap icon, though the duo’s bitter legal battle is far from over.
The order from Monday (June 30) tosses the claims brought by Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) in Los Angeles court against Buzbee, who alleged in a now-dropped civil lawsuit that the rapper and Sean “Diddy” Combs raped an anonymous 13-year-old girl together at an after-party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.
Jay-Z vehemently denied those allegations and sued Buzbee for extortion and defamation last fall. There has since been lengthy litigation over whether to strike Jay-Z’s lawsuit under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which allows for the quick dismissal of claims that threaten constitutionally protected speech.
Judge Mark H. Epstein repeatedly flip-flopped over what to do with Buzbee’s anti-SLAPP motion, saying in various tentative orders that he was inclined to keep the lawsuit at least partially alive. He has now changed his mind, and Monday’s final decision strikes the claims entirely.
The judge says Jay-Z’s extortion claims must fail because Buzbee was within his rights as a lawyer to demand a settlement payment from the rapper before suing him for rape last year.
“Selling silence for money in the civil context is not extortion; it is a settlement with a non-disclosure element,” writes Judge Epstein.
Jay-Z’s defamation claims, which take issue with Buzbee’s statements to the press and social media activity, are a closer call. Judge Epstein has determined that these claims must be dismissed too because they don’t meet the so-called “actual malice” standard; that is, Jay-Z has not shown that Buzbee knowingly lied about the rape accusations.
Judge Epstein says the only evidence that Jay-Z submitted on this point is inadmissible: declarations from private investigators who claim they spoke to the anonymous rape accuser, known as Jane Doe; and that she said Jay-Z was not involved in her assault but that Buzbee pressured her to name the rapper.
Buzbee and Doe have both denied the truth of these statements, saying the victim was scared and intimidated by private investigators who showed up at her house. Regardless, Monday’s order deems this new evidence cannot be considered due to the legal hearsay rule.
However, Judge Epstein’s order effectively invites Jay-Z to appeal the admissibility decision by saying that if this evidence were admissible, the situation would “change dramatically.”
“Then there would be some evidence not only that Carter had nothing to do with any sexual assault on Doe, but that Buzbee knew it in the sense that (according to Doe) it was Buzbee that kept pressing to get Doe to implicate Carter,” writes Judge Epstein. “That pressure, coupled with the statement by Buzbee that he had investigated the claims, would be enough to support an inference of actual malice.”
Judge Epstein says himself that he’s not sure whether he reached the right conclusion, noting at the end of his 65-page order that it’s “painfully obvious that the court is struggling with this motion.” If Jay-Z’s efforts to appeal the admissibility decision were successful, he could get his defamation claims reinstated.
“The court is not wholly satisfied that this is the outcome that best serves the legislative and constitutional doctrines,” writes Judge Epstein. “It will be for the Court of Appeal to determine whether the court got it right or wrong, and whether the suit ought to go forward or ought to end. Stay tuned.”
Jay-Z quickly took Judge Epstein up on his suggestion and appealed the order on Tuesday (July 1).
“We are surprised and disappointed by this ruling which turns on the misapplication of California law on the admissibility of the investigators’ statements,” says Jay-Z’s attorney Alex Spiro in a statement shared with Billboard. “What does it say about our justice system if someone can knowingly bring about completely false claims of the most heinous nature imaginable against an innocent individual and get away with it on a technicality?”
Buzbee, meanwhile, is celebrating Monday’s decision.
“The court rightly dismissed the case because it has no merit,” writes Buzbee in a Tuesday email to Billboard. “Buzbee wins again.”
In addition to the upcoming appeal of Monday’s ruling, Jay-Z is still pursuing a malicious prosecution lawsuit against both Buzbee and Doe in Alabama federal court. Buzbee also has his own ongoing litigation accusing Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation of encouraging and even bribing former clients to sue the lawyer for malpractice.
This story was updated at 4:59 p.m. ET to reflect that Jay-Z has appealed the decision.
