NEW YORK – Sean “Diddy” Combs has made a legal move to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him and two co-defendants of raping a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio back in 2003, labeling the claims as “false and hideous.”
According to the Associated Press, Combs, along with his legal team, asserts that the lawsuit was filed too late under the law, constituting the latest rebuttal amid a series of similar lawsuits and a concurrent criminal sex-trafficking investigation.
In the filing submitted on Friday, the 54-year-old hip-hop mogul and his affiliated companies vehemently deny the allegations, decrying the immense damage inflicted upon their reputations and businesses by what they characterize as baseless accusations.
The lawsuit, filed in December and later amended in March by a woman now residing in Canada, alleges that she was flown to New York by then-president of Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment record label, Harve Pierre, where she was allegedly given drugs and alcohol until she was unable to consent to sexual activity.
The suit further alleges that Combs, Pierre, and another individual took turns raping her.
The defense’s legal maneuver seeks the dismissal of the case “with prejudice,” preventing its re-filing, to safeguard the defendants from further reputational harm and to conserve judicial resources.
In response to the filing, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, Michael J. Willemin, dismissed Combs’ actions as a “desperate attempt” to evade accountability, asserting that the motion would not deter the pursuit of justice for the plaintiff.
At this stage, the legal battle revolves around procedural arguments rather than the merits of the case. Some of the lawsuits against Combs stem from decades-old allegations and fall under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily suspended certain legal deadlines to enable victims of sexual assault to seek recourse for past abuses.
Although the deadlines set by this law have lapsed, the lawsuit targeted by Combs’ motion was brought under a different statute, New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which allows civil complaints for sexual assault claims beyond the statute of limitations.
However, Combs’ legal team contends that the lawsuit was filed too late under this law, as it is superseded by New York state law, necessitating its submission by August 2021 to be considered timely. Despite attempts by the plaintiff to address these issues in the amended lawsuit, Combs’ attorneys argue that the revisions fall short.
The judge overseeing the case has ruled that the plaintiff must disclose her identity if the lawsuit proceeds after this legal challenge. The public airing of allegations against Combs commenced with a lawsuit filed in November by singer Cassie, Combs’ former protege and girlfriend, alleging a range of abuses spanning from 2005 to 2018.
This lawsuit was settled shortly after filing, with Combs denying the allegations. Subsequent lawsuits followed, culminating in a March 25 raid by Homeland Security Investigations on Combs’ residences in Los Angeles and Miami as part of a sex-trafficking investigation.
Though Combs has not been charged, the investigation remains ongoing. Last month, Combs sought to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Joi Dickerson, who accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her when she was 19 years old.
In light of these developments, the legal battle surrounding Sean “Diddy” Combs continues to intensify, as he and his legal team push back against allegations that threaten to tarnish his reputation and legacy in the entertainment industry.
