Last December, a Texas lawyer named Tony Buzbee amended a lawsuit against Sean Combs. Buzbee’s client, Jane Doe, claimed that Combs and Jay-Z raped her at a post-VMA party in 2000. This was the first time anyone had sued Jay-Z in association with Puffy or claimed that Jay-Z was involved in any way with Sean Combs’ decades of trafficking and abuse. It was huge news, timed specifically around Blue Ivy Carter’s promotion and premiere for Mufasa. Soon after the lawsuit was filed, Jane Doe gave an interview to NBC News in which her story did not stand up to any kind of scrutiny. There was an immediate shift in coverage, which was helped along by Jay-Z full-throated defense and furious countersuit against Buzbee. Last month, Jane Doe and Buzbee dropped the lawsuit, but Jay-Z is still suing Buzbee for what Jay calls an extortion attempt. Now Jay is also suing Jane Doe.

Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z’s scorched-earth defense of his reputation and his company following potentially career-ending accusations of raping a teenage girl with Sean “Diddy” Combs has brought another lawsuit, this time taking on his accuser directly. The global rap superstar, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, filed a 25-page suit on Monday in a Mobile, Alabama court against the unnamed woman, saying she filed a “false” and “malicious” case that was “strategically and tactically calculated and timed to inflict maximum pain and suffering on [him].”

In the now-withdrawn lawsuit that rattled the pop culture world in December, the woman claimed that when she was 13, Combs and Carter sexually assaulted her at a party after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. The suit claims that the woman, who is not named in court documents as she is allegedly a sexual assault victim, knew she was fabricating the story; at one point, the new suit claims, she admitted to Carter’s representatives that the story was made up.

“[The plaintiff] voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story,” the complaint states, adding she was, “pushed [into] going forward with the false story against Mr. Carter.”

The suit alleges that there are three previous dropped sexual assault allegation suits involving the woman who accused Carter and Combs of rape.

Houston Attorney Anthony Buzbee, who is bringing dozens of sexual assault lawsuits against Combs and represents the woman in the case that named Carter, said in a statement that the rapper, which names him and attorney David Fortney, has “no legal merit.”

In his complaint, Carter claims that the woman was bamboozled by the attorneys, who “falsely, maliciously, and manipulatively” told her that the suit needed to be dismissed because the rap star was threatening to kill her. In truth, the suit claims, the attorneys “were desperate to withdraw the false case or face punishment in court.” This is because Buzbee legally cannot lead the case as he is not able to practice law in New York state, where the case was filed.

The Alabama suit accuses the unnamed woman of defamation of the rapper and reputational harm and accuses both her and the lawyers of malicious prosecution. It’s one of two suits Carter had filed against Buzbee; in a complaint filed in Los Angeles, the rapper claimed that a letter asking for a “confidential mediation” in the woman’s case amounted to extortion. Last week, an L.A. judge reportedly indicated at a hearing that extortion will be off the table in the case but defamation could play out in the courtroom as the rap mogul and attorney continue to lock horns.

[From THR]

Let’s argue that Jay-Z is telling the whole truth about everything and that this was an out-of-nowhere extortion attempt – I totally understand why he’s coming after Buzbee so hard and blaming Buzbee for this whole situation. What I don’t get is why sue Doe, who by this description is a deeply unwell woman who has previously falsely accused other people of harming her? I get that Jay wants to make a point here and really draw the line in the sand, but I think his lawsuit against Buzbee does that on its own. Buzbee was the one who failed in his due diligence when he was approached by Doe.

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