Jay-Z Gets Small Legal Victory in Rape Lawsuit

Jay-Z has scored a legal win as his team pushes for the dismissal of a lawsuit accusing him of raping a 13-year-old girl alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs in 2000.

Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York granted a request from the music mogul’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, on Thursday, Jan. 2, allowing him to file a motion to dismiss the case on procedural grounds. The court documents for the latest ruling were shared on X (formerly Twitter) by journalist Meghann M. Cuniff.

In a Monday, Dec. 30 letter to the judge, Spiro argued that the woman suing Jay-Z — known only as Jane Doe — cannot make a claim against the rapper under New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act law, as it only went into effect after she alleges the rape occurred.

“Plaintiff cannot recover for her sole claim under the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act (the GMV Law), as a matter of law, because the statute does not have retroactive effect,” Spiro wrote in the letter.

He continued, “Plaintiff asserts a violation of the GMV Law for conduct that purportedly occurred in September 2000. But the GMV Law was not enacted until December 19, 2000, three months after the FAC claims the conduct occurred, and cannot apply retroactively to create a cause of action unavailable to Plaintiff at the time in question.”

The woman accusing Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) and Combs of assault claims that the two raped her at an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty in September 2000, when she was 13 years old. Both Jay-Z and Diddy have denied the allegations.

The Gender-Motivated Violence Protection law went into effect in December 2000 and was later amended in December 2022 to allow a two-year window to allow for claims that would otherwise pass the statute of limitations.

Because of Torres’ latest decision, Jay-Z’s legal team will now be permitted to file a motion to dismiss the case by Feb. 6, with Jane Doe’s attorneys having until Feb. 28 to file opposition papers.

Doe’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, previously argued against the request for dismissal in a Dec. 31 letter to Torres. “Defendant’s argument as to the GMVA is unpersuasive, as it is contrary to the law’s primary intention: to make it easier for victims of gender-motivated violence to seek civil remedies in court—not, as Defendant would have it, make it harder,” Buzbee wrote.

Jay-Z is also suing Buzbee, accusing the attorney of extortion and defamation, while Buzbee is embroiled in another legal battle against Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, claiming the company bribed clients to file suits against his firm, threatened them and impersonated state officials. Roc Nation has denied the allegations.