Jay-Z’s defamation and extortion lawsuit in opposition to famed Texas legal professional Tony Buzbee reportedly comprises sufficient advantage to proceed to trial.
Los Angeles County Superior Court docket Choose Mark H. Epstein made the ruling on Tuesday, Feb. 25, a few week after Buzbee and his unnamed consumer dropped the inflammatory sexual assault lawsuit in opposition to Jay-Z.
Jay-Z mentioned the accuser’s swimsuit by no means had advantage
The lady, named “Jane Doe,” had accused Jay-Z and Diddy of tag-teaming her by plying her with medicine after which sexually assaulting her throughout an afterparty of the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. She claimed she was solely 13 years previous at the moment.
After Jane Doe and Buzbee dismissed the lawsuit in opposition to Jay-Z “with prejudice,” which means she will by no means file this case once more, Jay-Z went on the offensive. Jay excoriated Buzbee as an unscrupulous, ambulance-chasing lawyer who didn’t carry out his due diligence in vetting his consumer earlier than submitting the allegedly defamatory lawsuit in opposition to him.
Jay-Z mentioned the hurt incurred by his household is incalculable
In his assertion following the case’s dismissal, Jay lamented the truth that the case prompted his household incalculable hurt and excruciating ache, to not point out costing him about $20 million in enterprise offers.
Quickly thereafter, Jay-Z filed the counter-lawsuit in opposition to Buzbee in February 2025. In line with the Los Angeles Occasions, the decide has scheduled a listening to for March 26 the place he’ll rule on the extortion portion of the lawsuit. Yahoo! Information stories that the extortion declare is “unlikely to face”
Why the lawsuit in opposition to Tony Buzbee goes to trial
Nonetheless, the rest of the case will proceed to trial based mostly on Buzbee’s conduct because the case was filed in December 2024.
The decide mentioned Buzbee recklessly referred to the accuser as a “sexual assault survivor” in a social media submit, regardless of the obtrusive lack of proof to corroborate his claims.
Buzbee additionally “preferred” a social media submit implying that Jay-Z was the unnamed defendant in a associated lawsuit earlier than the rapper had been publicly named. The decide deemed this as reckless and malicious, which meets the authorized threshold for alleged defamation.
“The conduct alleged raises critical questions on whether or not Buzbee acted with precise malice, a key part in defamation instances involving public figures,” the decide famous in his ruling, in line with Yahoo!
Authorized implications for Buzbee are profound
The upcoming trial in opposition to Buzbee raises critical implications since he has filed a number of lawsuits in opposition to Sean “Diddy” Combs, together with a class-action lawsuit of 120 people who accused the Dangerous Boy boss of untoward conduct and sexual deviancy.
There have been stories that Buzbee has already been briefly barred from working towards legislation within the Southern District of New York State, which incorporates the 5 boroughs that comprise New York Metropolis, for not following required procedures when he filed his now-defunct lawsuit in opposition to Jay-Z.
Nonetheless, Buzbee emphatically denied that in an Instagram assertion.
“Over the previous week, I’ve gotten a number of inquiries from mates and colleagues expressing concern and asking why I’ve been ‘barred’ from working towards legislation in New York State and providing their help,” he mentioned. “I actually have seen a number of press businesses, some borderline professional, reporting that very same trash. Let me be clear. I’m licensed to observe legislation in New York. I’m in good standing with the state bar and have at all times been. Though I favor Texas, I’m pleased with the authorized work we’re doing in New York. Don’t imagine the clicking bait or dramatic headlines. Most of what’s reported these days is pure bunk by these with an agenda.”