NCS
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Editor’s notice: Additional data on this story and the id of the celebrity particular person concerned on this grievance was revealed in a subsequent lawsuit on Thursday.
In a extremely uncommon authorized battle, an nameless plaintiff who describes themselves as “a celebrity and public figure who resides in Tennessee” is urging a federal court in Mississippi to declare a sexual assault accuser’s allegations untrue and cease her from additional publicizing them — before she’s even filed a lawsuit — claiming that she is trying to extort and defame him with “false allegations” that will “irreparably harm” his popularity and profession.
The plaintiff’s lawsuit, which was filed in mid-September, prompted his accuser to fireplace again this week, opposing the celebrity’s efforts to keep nameless.
The feminine accuser, recognized within the filings as “Jane Roe,” is asking the court to deny the request from the high-profile “John Doe” to proceed underneath a pseudonym, arguing in her submitting that he’s an “alleged sexual assault predator” who mustn’t obtain particular remedy.
“Mr. Doe believes that he is entitled to the same protection victims receive – not to prevent unnecessary re-traumatization, but rather, to maintain his celebrity ‘reputation,’” the accuser’s legal professional wrote in a response transient this week, which was obtained by NCS.
“Our civil court system is designed to resolve disputes and provide injured parties a means of redress,” Roe’s submitting states. “It is supposed to be a level playing field. The system is not in place to allow wealthy wrongdoers the ability to run work-arounds on sexual assault victims who attempt to hold perpetrators accountable. This is precisely what Mr. Doe is asking the court to help him do.”
An legal professional for John Doe didn’t reply to NCS’s request for remark.
‘A celebrity and public figure’
Other than being described in his grievance as a “celebrity and public figure who resides in Tennessee,” no different particulars concerning John Doe have been revealed. In Jane Roe’s submitting, she describes Doe as having “millions of fans” and “multi-millionaire resources.”
Roe, in her submitting, describes herself as a “professional make-up artist and hair stylist, who has worked in the music industry” for greater than three a long time. She claimed she labored “periodically” for Doe over 15 years and has completed his hair and make-up, in addition to his spouse’s.
In her memorandum, Roe stated she plans to publicly file her grievance this week – during which she would identify the celebrity as a defendant – underneath California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act.
In his grievance, Doe claims Roe’s legal professional despatched him a “confidential” demand letter “alleging a litany of sexual misconduct by Plaintiff ranging from allegations of sexual ‘grooming,’ creation of a sexually hostile work environment, unwanted sexual touching, and sexual assault,” after he declined Roe’s request for “salaried employment and medical benefits.”
In her submitting, Roe alleges that Doe shared his sexual fantasies along with her, groped her breasts, as soon as walked out of the bathe bare and compelled her to contact him and raped her throughout a piece journey in Los Angeles in 2019.
Doe stated that Roe has tried to extort him for hundreds of thousands of {dollars} via “untrue, lewd allegations” and “outrageous conduct.”
“Defendant’s allegations are not true,” Doe’s lawsuit states. “Defendant is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit.”
The celebrity plaintiff additionally claimed in his lawsuit that his accuser alleged that he “planned to hire someone to murder her,” which he denied.
Doe’s swimsuit asks the court to declare Roe’s sexual misconduct allegations untrue, pay compensatory and punitive damages and be prevented from additional publicizing the claims.
According to Roe’s submitting, the celebrity filed his lawsuit after he realized that his accuser was planning to publicly file her personal lawsuit, which got here after she tried to settle privately.
“Mr. Doe commenced this frivolous action after he learned that Ms. Roe intended to hold him accountable for his conduct and sexual violence,” the submitting states, with Roe’s legal professional writing that the celebrity preemptively submitting his personal grievance quantities to an “obvious attempt to further control and bully his sexual assault victim.”
“Mr. Doe is desperate to prevent his millions of fans from learning about the horrific things he has said and done to a junior female employee who did nothing to deserve such treatment,” her legal professional stated in court paperwork this week.
The plaintiff’s request to proceed underneath a pseudonym requires approval from the court.
Legal specialists say that the celebrity plaintiff isn’t seemingly to prevail on this case, noting that the argument of reputational hurt isn’t robust sufficient, given that the majority all lawsuits include some element of embarrassment or humiliation.
“Courts generally err on the side of transparency, and do not like to conceal litigation from public view— absent compelling circumstances,” NCS authorized analyst Joey Jackson stated. “Shielding allegations from public view is extremely disfavored. Therefore, a court is likely to reject any attempt at forcing litigants to battle anonymously. The court may require further legal filings or a hearing before making the final decision, but the celebrity here faces a major hurdle in keeping this out of the public domain.”
Jackson added that any accused particular person can file counterclaims for defamation.
“That is the remedy for anyone facing false accusation — not hiding it from the public,” he stated.
When contacted by NCS, the girl’s legal professional, Douglas H. Wigdor, stated the preemptive grievance was an “unprecedented attempt to game the judicial system” to keep away from being publicly named.
“Our judicial system was designed to be transparent, and it has been my experience that the filing of sexual assault complaints often leads to other victims who have suffered in silence coming forward,” Wigdor advised NCS. “I have been fortunate over the years to represent courageous survivors who have taken the first step in holding powerful people accountable for their actions by filing a public complaint and in this matter, we intend on doing just that.”