California court denies Jay-Z rehearing bid after rape claim recanted
A California appeals court on 1 October refused to rehear Jay-Z's bid to sue lawyer Tony Buzbee, even after the woman who accused the rapper of rape said her claim was false.
The three-judge panel denied the petition for a rehearing. It did not rule in his favour on the wider argument.
The dispute began with a lawsuit filed in December 2024. It alleged that Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs drugged and assaulted a teenage girl in 2000 at an after-party organised around the MTV Video Music Awards. The claim was brought under the pseudonym Jane Doe, Rolling Stone reported. He denies the claim.
Jay-Z called the allegation a blackmail attempt. He then sued Buzbee, who had brought the rape case, for extortion and defamation, Billboard reported.
A Los Angeles trial judge rejected that case. The judge found no evidence that Buzbee filed the claims knowing they were false, or that threatening to sue amounted to extortion. An appeals court upheld that decision on the behaviour alleged.
Jay-Z then asked the appeals court to reconsider. He argued the accuser's recantation was explosive new evidence that changed the picture.
In a separate case, the accuser told a judge her claims against Jay-Z were false. She said she had never met Jay-Z, Reuters reported. She also said she had experienced mental health issues and that her now-former lawyers had filed the claims with little due diligence.
The panel rejected the request for a rehearing on 1 October. But it added that its decision "shall not prevent the trial court from ordering discovery and reconsidering its prior ruling based on any new evidence if deemed appropriate."
Discovery is the pre-trial exchange of documents and testimony ordered by a court. In practice, the wording means Jay-Z can return to the lower court and ask it to weigh the recantation.
Jay-Z also has a separate federal case. His lawyers have said he will continue with that litigation even if the California case is not revived, Billboard reported.
