'Jane Doe' lawsuit accuses Combs of sex trafficking 17-year-old from Detroit to NYC in 2003
Combs ‘smart enough’ to have alibis: Kennedy
Fox Nation’s new special, "What Diddy Do," takes a close look at the rise and fall of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.
Attorneys for embattled hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs are asking a New York judge to toss a Jane Doe sex trafficking lawsuit against the billionaire entertainer, arguing that an extension of the statute of limitations created by the Big Apple's progressive city council contradicts state law and is invalid.
The explosive lawsuit, filed under New York City's Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law (VGM), accuses Combs and two other Bad Boy executives of sexually assaulting an 11th-grader in 2003 and flying her from Detroit to New York City and back again in a whirlwind night of booze, sex and drugs.
Jonathan Davis, one of Combs' high-powered Manhattan attorneys, called the allegations "entirely false and hideous" as he argued that the city's law, which created a second extension to file claims that were already limited by the prior statute of limitations, is preempted by a similar state law that has also expired.
Sean "Diddy" Combs, left, is seen receiving the key to the city from New York City Mayor Eric Adams in Times Square on Sept. 15, 2023. The city's Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence law has become a key issue in a civil lawsuit accusing the media mogul of sex trafficking. (Raymond Hall/GC Images)
"Mr. Combs and his companies categorically deny Plaintiff’s decades-old tale against them, which has already caused incalculable damage to the reputations and business standing of the Combs Defendants, even before any evidence has been presented," Davis wrote.
The meat of his argument is that the statute of limitations has expired – as has the extension window created by New York's Child Victims Act (CVA), which gave victims who were under the age of 18 at the time of their alleged sex assault a two-year window to file their claims. That window closed in 2021.
"At the top of Plaintiff’s pleading is a bolded, legally irrelevant ‘trigger warning’ calculated to focus attention on its salacious and depraved allegations. This stunt is intended to prominently showcase a baseless and time-barred claim, which was designed to cause the Combs Defendants unwanted publicity, embarrassment, and financial costs, so Plaintiff could extract an undeserved financial recovery from them."
— Jonathan Davis, attorney for Sean "Diddy" Combs
New York Mayor Eric Adams gave Combs the symbolic "key to the city" last year before his legal troubles arrived. But it's the Democrat-dominated City Council's 2022 amendment to New York City law, the VGM, that also created another two-year extension window beginning on March 1, 2023. One of its progressive backers includes the pro-"defund the police" Councilwoman Tiffany Caban, according to documents included in the filing.
Combs' attorneys are disputing the validity of that city law.
READ THE FILING – APP USERS, CLICK HERE
They are arguing that "New York state law trumps New York City law, without exception" and are asking the court to shutter that window.
"No one should take anything ‘[D]iddy’ or his lawyers say seriously. The motion is just a desperate attempt by Combs to avoid accountability for Ms. Doe’s allegations of gang rape and sexual assault. It won’t work."
— Michael J. Willemin, attorney for Jane Doe
"Plaintiff cannot rely on this provision because the CVA's claim-revival provision preempts the VGM's claim-revival provision," Davis wrote, citing a recent precedent.
He also argued that the VGM claim can't apply retroactively to Combs' companies.
Michael Willemin, a partner at the Wigdor law firm that is representing Doe in the lawsuit, sounded confident the judge will rule against Combs on the matter.
"At this point, no one should take anything ‘[D]iddy’ or his lawyers say seriously," he told Fox News Digital. "The motion is just a desperate attempt by Combs to avoid accountability for Ms. Doe’s allegations of gang rape and sexual assault. It won’t work."
Sean "Diddy" Combs sits outside his Star Island home with his mother, Janice Combs, in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 7, 2024. (Zak Bennett for Fox News Digital)
Legal experts described mixed expectations for Combs' motion to dismiss.
David Gelman, a New Jersey-based defense attorney and former prosecutor, said Davis "hit the nail on the head."
"It’s a really well-written response brief and argument," he told Fox News Digital. "The city cannot unilaterally change the law and go against the state."
Neama Rahmani, a Los Angeles-based trial attorney and former federal prosecutor, said he thinks Combs' lawyers made "creative arguments" but that he expects the judge to allow the case to move forward.
A photo included in the lawsuit purports to show a 17-year-old Jane Doe sitting in Sean "Diddy" Combs' lap inside the Daddy's House recording studio in New York City in 2003. (US District Court Southern District of NY)
"It’s well established that legislatures can reopen the statute of limitations for civil claims, but not criminal charges," he told Fox News Digital. "And whether Diddy was acting in the course and scope of companies should go to the jury because they’ve alleged enough facts. Even if there is no vicarious liability, the plaintiffs can argue that the corporate defendants were negligent in retaining or supervising Diddy."
The civil complaint includes pictures purporting to show the unidentified victim in a music studio linked to Combs, who is named alongside two of his entertainment companies, former Bad Boy executive Harve Pierre and another man identified in court documents only as "Third Assailant."
Sean "Diddy" Combs' legal team filed a new motion to dismiss claims in one of four lawsuits against the rapper. (Shareif Ziyadat)
Combs has denied all allegations of wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. Pierre has also denied wrongdoing, and his attorney sent a letter to the court asking to join Combs' motion to dismiss, arguing that their client should be dismissed from the case under the same reasoning Combs' team laid out.
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But he's also been under fire for months due to a batch of similar lawsuits and federal raids on two of his mansions in March that came as part of a Homeland Security Investigations probe.
In prior statements, he said that some of his accusers are just looking for "an underserved payday."
Sean "Diddy" Combs rides a bicycle from his home across the Star Island Bridge in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 4, 2024. (Romain Maurice/Mega for Fox News Digital)
In addition to the sex abuse lawsuits, Combs is also facing litigation that accuses him of leaving a New Orleans design firm on the hook for $100,000 in material costs after postponing an event for which he had hired it to build a structure.
The lawyer in that case told FOX Business this month that he expects to see more business-related lawsuits.
