Last year, Jay-Z hit Houston attorney Tony Buzbee with a lawsuit alleging that he tried to extort and defame him. This was after Buzbee represented a woman who alleged that he and Diddy sexually assaulted her when she was 13. Both men vehemently denied these allegations, and the woman eventually dropped the case.
Yesterday (June 30), however, Los Angeles County Judge Mark Epstein dismissed Jay-Z's lawsuit. In the ruling, Epstein explained that he isn't entirely pleased with his decision. Ultimately, however, he concluded that the evidence didn't meet the legal threshold.
“Selling silence as to law enforcement for money is extortion, but there is no promise of silence in the criminal context here," he said. "And selling silence for money in the civil context is not extortion; it is a settlement with a non-disclosure element."
Jay-Z Lawsuit Dismissed
In response to this latest update, Buzbee told TMZ that the case was dismissed "in a lengthy, well-reasoned opinion." He also said that he will now be going after Jay-Z for "a lot" of money to make up for the attorneys' fees he paid "defending against a meritless case."
"We have a long history of winning. We won't be deterred in our important work," Buzbee added.
Jay-Z's lawyer, Alex Spiro, also shared a statement with Rolling Stone about the dismissal. “We are surprised and disappointed by this ruling which turns on the misapplication of California law on the admissibility of the investigators’ statements,” it reads. “Notably, the Judge expressly states that his decision would have ‘change[d] dramatically’ if he had admitted the statements into evidence as they would have shown ‘not only that Carter had nothing to do with any sexual assault on Doe, but that Buzbee knew it…’ and thus ‘the court would come out the other way on this motion.’"
