A woman from Alabama who says who was raped by Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs when she was 13 can proceed anonymously for now in her lawsuit against the rap moguls, a New York federal judge ruled Thursday.
In her written order, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres said the woman can proceed anonymously at this early stage of the litigation, but may be asked to reveal her identity at a later date. if the case continues. This would allow defense attorneys to gather the facts needed to prepare for trial. Torres also cited “substantial interest” from the public.
The Manhattan lawyer also chastised Alex Spiro, the attorney representing Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, for what it described as his “relentless presentation of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks ” against the plaintiff’s attorney, calling them “inappropriate, a waste of court resources and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client.”
Torres wrote in his order Thursday that Spiro, who has been on the case for less than three weeks, has filed a “litany of letters and motions seeking to impugn the character of plaintiff’s counsel, many of them outlining the alleged “urgency” of this case.
In response to the ruling, Tony Buzbee, the plaintiff’s attorney, told CBS News in an email Thursday evening that he “doesn’t normally comment on court rulings,” but alleged that “the coordinated and desperate efforts to attack me as a lawyer for alleged victims are falling to the ground.”
CBS News has reached out to Carter’s attorneys for comment.
Combs still imprisoned in New York awaiting criminal trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. He also faces a wave of sexual assault lawsuits, many of which were filed by Buzbee, a Texas attorney who says his firm represents more than 150 people, both men and women, who allege abuse and sexual exploitation by Combs.
The lawsuits allege that many people were abused at parties in New York, California and Florida after receiving drugged drinks.
Combs’ lawyers have dismissed Buzbee’s lawsuits as “shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear that lies will be spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr. Combs.” Jay-Z has said in a statement that Buzbee is trying to blackmail him into settling the Alabama woman’s allegations.
In her lawsuit, the woman who says she was raped at age 13 is identified as “Jane Doe.” She said she was living in Rochester in 2000 when she headed to New York City and befriended a limo driver who took her to an after-party at the MTV Music Awards, where she says she eventually was attacked by Jay-Z and Combs. .
Spiro asked the judge to dismiss the entertainer’s lawsuit against the woman, and the entertainer requested a hearing on the case for the day after he made his written requests on Dec. 18.
Citing an interview the plaintiff gave to NBC News, Spiro wrote that the broadcast revealed “obvious and impossibly obvious inconsistencies” in the plaintiff’s story. For one thing, the woman said she traveled five hours from Rochester to watch the music awards show on a jumbotron outside the VMAs, even though permits and footage show there was no jumbotron at the event
Spiro also noted that the woman’s father has said he did not remember driving from Rochester to pick up his daughter in New York City, as she says he did.
In the interview, the woman admitted to inconsistencies in her story.