P. Diddy Accuser Cites 'New Evidence' in Sexual Assault Case

sha Diddy Colmes is facing several lawsuits and we have a legal update now in one of them that may shed new light on what is going on here we bring on a claim defense attorney to the Stars Bradford Cohen to make sense of it all welcome to sidebar presented by law crime I'm Jesse Weber hey there everybody this is a law on crime legal alert Google incognito tracked users browsing data without their knowledge well Mass Tor Alliance one of our legal sponsors is actually helping users file for compensation due to Google misleading the privacy of their Incognito browser so if you've used Google incognito anytime since 2016 you can start your claim in less than 10 questions at Incognito claims.com sidebar interesting legal development in one of the cases involving sha Diddy comes I want to talk to you about right now now I say one of the cases because we know that the music mogul has been hit with a number of sexual misconduct lawsuits and we know that the feds raided two of his properties back in March reportedly pursuant to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation no arrests have been made no charges have been filed we don't know precisely what authorities are looking for but here's what we do know that there is an interesting development in one of the lawsuits and this one concerns a woman named Lisa Gardner and she had sued Diddy and also sing singer and songwriter Aaron Hall as well as several other corporate entities and Jane Do's like MCA umg gin records and she claims that back in 1990 when she was just 16 years old she and a friend met comes in Hall at MCA records when they were invited back to Hall's apartment for an Afterparty and while at Hall's apartment Lisa Gardner was allegedly offered drinks and was coerced into having sex with Shawn Combs she said that she was shocked that she was traumatized and then all of a sudden after that happened she claims Hall barged into the room pinned her down and forced her to have sex with him she claimed that her friend was also sexually assaulted by Colmes and Hall that they were almost essentially switching off on the women then Garder allegedly a couple of days later claims that Colmes came to the to the home where she and her friend were staying and Colmes was iate and he began assaulting and choking her to the point that she passed out Lisa Gardner says this but that happened to her over the years she says that she has sought medical treatment to heal from this trauma she is sued for sexual assault battery negligent infliction of emotional distress she actually sued under the New York adult survivors act which provided a one-year look back window for survivors of sexual assault to sue for abuse that would have otherwise been time barred because they were old expired claims under statute of limitations now as a result of defendant's conduct plff claims again that she suffered and continues to suffer harm including physical injury severe emotional distress humiliation anxiety and that there are other consequential damages for which she says she's entitled to an award of monetary monetary damages now Colmes previously denied this he denied the claims uh when this was initially filed in November released a statement saying quote these are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years ago and filed at the last minute this is nothing but a money grab because of Mr com's Fame and success he is an easy target for anonymous accusers who lie without conscience or consequence for financial benefit the New York legislature surely did not intend or expect the adult survivors act to be exploited by scammers the public should be skeptical and not rush to accept these bogus allegations and he made very or people on his behalf his spokespeople made these kinds of statements in relation to the multiple lawsuits that he's facing well now I want to talk about this that Miss Gardner wants to move her lawsuit from New York to New Jersey H why well in one of the filings she writes plff and this writer have received information from several witnesses a former employee of umg subsidiary Uptown records and a Bad Boy Records executive this new information adds context to the plaintiff's claims and clarifies the timeline the first and second Witnesses have phot photos of plaintiff and defendant Aaron Hall from the day of the assault which was taken a few hours before he raped plaintiff the first and second Witnesses also confirmed that the 16-year-old plff was assaulted at the MCA event in New York City went to dinner in New York City and then was taken to New Jersey where the rape occurred the former employee confirmed that Aron Hall was an employee of MCA at the time of the rape and they asked for this case in New York to be uh discontinued without prejudice meaning you could file it again and that they do want to refile in New Jersey now let me talk about what this means I want to bring on fan favorite here at sidebar uh uh claimed defense attorney to the Stars Bradford Cohen famously represented Drake Wan W Melly Kodak Black Bradford so good to see you thank you so much for coming on um what is the legal strategy here why do this why try to move it from New York to New Jersey well I think there's a couple things going on number one is it avoids the motion to dismiss that um Diddy filed in the case and Sean comes' team filed this motion to dismiss it's pretty uh lengthy motion to dismiss has a lot of facts in it has a lot of uh details in it I think number one is it buys them time to research that motion to dismiss and see if they can address the issues in the motion to dismiss they know they're going to have to do that anyway anyways um generally speaking you can get some time to respond to motions to dismiss but they may want more time than what the court would allow to really kind of nail down some issues go through some witnesses see if they can get some affidavits from these new Witnesses so to beef up their complaint instead of going forward with motion to dismiss getting that complaint dismissed and then refiling a new Mo a new complaint this way it would be very clean to refile in New Jersey I think that's number one and number two is I think the facts that now they're saying it happened in New Jersey I think they understood that they would be subject to a motion to dismiss if they brought those claims in New York City in the lawsuit in New York City saying that the rape actually occurred in New Jersey they would be subject to a new motion to dismiss saying that venue and jurisdiction is proper in New Jersey not in New York well let me just tease that out a little little bit does that signify to you a weakness in leer Gardner's case does this sound like there was a mistake that was made or is this just common sometimes these cases change you have to re end a case in one state and refile in another one I never believe in just oh this is a common occurrence when someone comes into my office and they're making allegations that are very serious such as these allegations you nail down facts I mean I go through the facts probably two three four times before I file a complaint because I know those facts are going to be examined in great detail because of what they are based on you know you're not saying hey this was a breach of contract you're accusing someone of sexual misconduct or rape these are very serious allegations that generally speaking and I I I don't think personally I never had a case where I made these type of allegations and then I'm like whoops sorry I filed in Florida meant the file in in Alabama never happened to me because like I said I go through those facts in such detail uh that that would be impossible now when we're talking about this case it's strange because what's happening with Sean comes and I said this originally right so back when all of this was happening with Cassie and the allegations were coming out and I've heard like rumors on the street that she wanted to sue but she didn't sue yet and by the way just to be clear Cassie Cassie ventur was filed one of these initial lawsuits against Diddy she settled with him uh the next day for she accused him of sex trafficking and sexual assault correct so when that happened when it was kind of a rumor that she wanted to file a lawsuit I spoke with several people uh in not in his orbit but in an orbit that's similar to his and I said this should have this should be settled like the these accusations even if they're not true they're so grandiose that he's going to lose sponsorships he's GNA lose this even if they're completely false this is something you settle I don't know what advice he got in terms of settling or not settling but she ends up filing that lawsuit and then it was open season on Shawn Colmes and that's what I predicted that it would be open season on Sean Colmes and that's what happened everyone Under the Sun filed lawsuits against Shan Coles whether or not they're true or false that was the key to open the door to the people rushing in to sue him that and that's a fair assessment and we've talked about that before again not going to the gravity of the CH the the accusations or uh The credibility of them I do think it's interesting the way that you're laying it out because it seems to me wouldn't a judge look at this and say again you know why are you asking to move this case um because the first the first part of your analysis was it might be to buy themselves more time to file a legal response which wouldn't be I think a satisfactory adequate reason to switch jurisdictions would a court look at this and say something's not right here courts always look at that but you you're limited to what's on the page right you're limited to the four corners of the complaint or the four corners of the document that's filed in the case it's always my feeling is every judge always has in the back of their head hey what's really going on I just got out of a trial two weeks ago a Civil Trial where the complaint read one way the defense read another way but during trial I think the Judge started to understand exactly what the case was about and the ruling started to go a different way when the judge actually understands hey there's something going on here what what did you make of this idea that you know we have these Witnesses you're coming forward now we have these photos out I mean that that's a reason why we need to actually move this case I think it's interesting I don't know how they made that mistake in the first place that she was taken to New Jersey she had another friend with her there were some witnesses anyways and no one remembered that she was taken to New Jersey no one remembered that she was in the car of course what they're going to uh say is is that you know victims of sexual assault try to put it out of their minds they don't remember every single detail they remember the big things not the little things or the opposite you know when it's they remember the little things and the big things that they say oh that's what sexual abusers and sexual assault victims do uh they kind of cater it to whatever is coming in or not coming in in this case she's going to say oh you know I didn't remember that they took me to New Jersey these new Witnesses came out and because these new Witnesses came out we want to use their testimony we have to move it move it to New Jersey or be subject to a motion to dismiss in New York for lack of jurisdiction and V venue that's that's what they're going to say I think a judge is going to look at it you know not with blinders on I think a judge will look at this in a totality of the situation do I think that it warrants a motion to dismiss or something like that probably not but I think that the the the basis that this huge fact that it was in New Jersey and not New York was overlooked I don't think we fall on death ears of a court I think that a court will certainly look at that uh kind of side eyed and uh and and I think that will will help Shan Colmes ultimately with the case again depending on these Witnesses and things like that but like I said this is what happens in these cases right the door gets open all of a sudden Witnesses come forward someone else comes forward someone who's got an axe to grind with Shawn comes and to be quite honest with you sha comes is a polarizing guy you know he some people love him in the industry some people hate him in the industry and I think that that also someone is down the people that hate you figure out a way to kick you when you're down again not knowing all the facts and Circumstance if this is true or false just my experience in this area when the door gets opened anyone who's never liked you in your life all of a sudden comes forward and has a memory of hey I remember this guy on May 17th he was you know doing this or doing that so that's what I think's happening you mentioned again this kind of there might be another strategic legal reason to move the case I I am curious if if this has anything to do with the fact that an attorney for umg one of the defendants had asked the court recently to deny Gardner an extension of time to respond to umg's motion to dismiss you mened a little bit with Colmes but uh Gardner by the way is being represented by a man named an attorney named Tyrone Blackburn he represents Rodney Jones who is the former uh Diddy producer he filed a separate lawsuit against Diddy for sexual assault and sex tra trafficking Blackburn also represents a young woman who filed a lawsuit against Diddy son Christian for sexual assault too and Blackburn of course as I mentioned is the attorney in this case but the filing from a umg's attorney says quote while Mr Blackburn claims his client needs additional time to gather her documents and affidavit from the witnesses there is no colorable ground on which additional documents or affidavits from the witnesses could change the Fatal defect in the amended complaint namely plaintiff's age at the time of the alleged conduct umg communicated to Mr Blackburn that the complaint was deficient as a matter of Law and urged him to discontinue the action against umg and while Mr Blackburn has chosen not to discontinue the action against MGR this court can and should deny his request for an extension to bring these frivolous proceedings and should dismiss this matter before any more resources are spent by the court and MGR accordingly umg respectfully requests that Mr Blackburn's extension request be denied so here Bradford again I wonder if this move to try to switch jurisdictions is maybe in response to this letter from umg it certainly could be the so courts have great discretion when granting extensions of time to answer motions to dismiss or uh anything Discovery uh to answer a complaint very likely the judge would give them some additional time how much I don't know it could be that that's why I said number one is it could be to avoid that uh you know that extension asking for that extension sometimes what happens is a motion gets filed a motion for extension gets filed the other side says hey you should deny this motion for extension and the judge may deny that motion for extension and that that point they dismissed without PR udice and refile in another jurisdiction they could have done that as well that would have looked probably more suspicious than how they did it I just think the whole thing is very strange I've read Mr Blackburn's uh complaints uh on on Rodney and a couple other you know they represent he represents a couple of these people the complaints are are written in such outrageous language that it almost begs uh the conclusion that this is what he's doing he's trying to embar and trying to force a settlement on these cases well we know that Mr Blackburn was called out by a judge recently a federal judge for some of the filings and we talked about it on a previous uh sidebar as well um and get into the controversial stance there um but look I I agree there was some very pointed language used in these complaints and it's interesting because I haven't seen it before um but having said that wish we had a little bit more time to talk but really interesting development nonetheless Bradford Cohen thanks so much for coming on great seeing you as always thanks you as well all right everybody that's all we have for you here on sidebar thank you so much for joining us as always please subscribe on Apple podcast Spotify YouTube wherever you get your podcast I'm Jesse Weber I'll speak to you next time [Music]

Channel: Law&Crime Network

Views: 229,537

Keywords: law and crime, law and crime network, true crime, truecrime, true crime videos, court, trials, law&crime

Id: slCCOqb8vv8

Length: 17min 27sec (1047 seconds)

Published: Tue May 07 2024