In December of last year, a lawsuit against Diddy was amended to include new allegations involving Jay-Z. An anonymous woman accused the two moguls of sexually assaulting her at a party in 2000 when she was just 13 years old. Both of them vehemently denied these allegations, and Jay-Z even proceeded to filed a lawsuit against the lawyer representing Jane Doe, Tony Buzbee. He accused him of extortion and defamation.
Earlier this month, however, the anonymous woman dropped her lawsuit. The case was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice, meaning she cannot re-file. "Today is a victory. The frivolous, fictitious and appalling allegations have been dismissed. This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere," Jay-Z said in part following the dismissal. "The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims. I would not wish this experience on anyone. The trauma that my wife, my children, loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed."
Jay-Z's Tony Buzbee Lawsuit
Now, according to The Neighborhood Talk, a judge has indicated that Jay-Z's defamation lawsuit against Buzbee has enough merit to go to trial. The rapper's extortion allegation, on the other hand, is likely to be dismissed. Judge Mark H. Epstein's ruling was focused on Buzbee's social media activity. Reportedly, this includes a post in which he called Jay-Z's accuser a "sexual assault survivor" along with a like on a post suggesting the Roc Nation founder was the unnamed defendant. Epstein argued that each of these actions could be interpreted as allegedly defamatory.
Currently, their next court hearing is scheduled for March 26. At that point, the judge is expected to rule on Jay-Z's extortion allegation. If it is dismissed, the case will move forward on the grounds of alleged defamation alone. For those who don't recall, Buzbee is also suing Roc Nation, the Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP law firm, and lawyer Marcy Croft for allegedly persuading his former clients to sue him.
