Kesha Rape and Abuse Claims Against Dr. Luke Dismissed by Judge
Kesha (real name: Kesha Rose Sebert) has suffered a major defeat in her legal battle with Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald). A judge today dismissed all but one of the singer’s eight claims against the producer she sued alleging rape and other abuse. In a 27-page decision viewed by Pitchfork, New York Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich also rejected Kesha’s request to amend her complaint, finding that “there is nothing in the record from which the court can determine whether the amendment would be meritorious.”
On Kesha’s claims that Dr. Luke violated the New York statutes commonly known as “hate crime” laws, Kornreich ruled that Kesha failed to allege Dr. Luke “harbored animus toward women or was motivated by gender animus when he allegedly behaved violently toward Kesha.” The judge added, “Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime.”
Kornreich also rejected Kesha’s suggestion that the “hate crimes” claims could be based on all of Dr. Luke’s alleged abusive remarks and threats for 10 years starting in 2005. “It is clear that the statute requires physical violence or property damage,” the judge wrote, and the only claims that fit were Kesha’s allegations that Gottwald assaulted her on an airplane in 2005 and raped her in his hotel room in 2008. Those incidents were beyond the statute of limitations, according to the ruling.
As for Kesha’s claim that Dr. Luke intentionally inflicted emotional distress, the judge rejected that, too. “Other than the 2005 and 2008 incidents,” which are time-barred, Kornreich wrote, Kesha’s abuse allegations didn’t state a time, place, or specific type of conduct. “Her claims of insults about her value as an artist, her looks, and her weight are insufficient to constitute extreme, outrageous conduct intolerable in civilized society,” the judge found.
Kornreich also rejected Kesha’s request for a judgment that her deals with Dr. Luke are void because he and his business entities sued her for damages instead of “specific performance”—in other words, because Dr. Luke sued Kesha seeking monetary damages instead of seeking a court order that she perform a specific act. Among other reasons, the judge cited the fact that Dr. Luke’s contracts with Kesha are for her personal services. “Courts generally will not enforce a contract for personal services because slavery has been outlawed since the 19th century,” Kornreich wrote.
The claim that wasn’t dismissed related to contractual issues. Kornreich set an April 13 appointment for a conference call to discuss a schedule for this part of the lawsuit.
Kesha’s claims in the New York court were technically counterclaims filed in response to Dr. Luke’s defamation lawsuit against her. Her initial lawsuit, filed in October 2014 in a California court, was set aside in June by a Los Angeles judge because her contracts stipulated that disputes would go through New York. It wasn’t immediately clear when the California case might resume.
On April 3, Kesha said she had been “offered my freedom” in exchange for a public apology and statement that she was never raped. (A representative for Dr. Luke issued a statement, saying “The only thing Kesha is not free to do is to continue to lie about Dr. Luke.”) In March, she appealed Kornreich’s previous decision to deny a preliminary injunction that would have allowed Kesha to sign to a label other than Dr. Luke’s Sony Music imprint Kemosabe Records while the case unfolded. Sony Music said it would allow Kesha to record “without any connection, involvement, or interaction with [Dr.] Luke whatsoever” but that the label is “legally unable to terminate” her contract with him.
Pitchfork has reached out to lawyers for Kesha, Dr. Luke, and Sony. Update (6:47 p.m.):Lawyers for Dr. Luke and Sony declined to comment for this story.
Read “Why Kesha Lost Her Court Battle, But Not Necessarily the War” on the Pitch.
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