Kesha: New York Judge Throws Out Lawsuit, What Did The Judge Say?
Kesha was struck with another blow by the legal system when her appeal was dismissed by a New York judge on Wednesday. Kesha has been trying to get herself released from contract with Sony due to being on the receiving end alleged sexual and emotional abuse by producer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald.
A New York State judge rejected Kesha’s claims against Dr. Luke https://t.co/n6Uf5Gfb1B pic.twitter.com/iAY8dfLGNB
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 7, 2016
New York State Supreme Court Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich threw out Kesha’s appeal due to the fact that Kesha had not been able to provide the evidence needed that showed the alleged assault and emotional abuse was “a gender-motivated hate crime.” Justice Kornreich also stated that the allegations that Kesha claims occurred between her and Gottwald took place outside of the state of New York and outside of the statute of limitations. In addition, Kornreich felt that Kesha was not being reasonable when she rejected Sony’s offer to have her work with a different producer. A brief statement written by Kornreich is found below.
“Her claims of insults about her value as an artist, her looks and her weight are insufficient to constitute extreme, outrageous conduct intolerable in a civilized society. Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime.”
Kesha and her legal team first attempted to get out of her contract in February. An injunction was rejected in which Kesha would have been able to sever her connection with the company while waiting for the litigation process to finish. This would have allowed Kesha to continue to work on her music. The injunction by Kesha and her lawyers was rejected due to the fact that the judge felt Sony would suffer irreparable financial harm if Kesha was no longer part of the company. A copy of the injunction can be found here.
According to Kesha, the abuse from Gottwald took place over a ten-year period starting when Kesha was 18-years-old. Kesha claims that she was “sexually, physically, verbally, and emotionally abused by Gottwald. Kesha believes that this was done so that Gottwald would be able to manipulate her into allowing him to control every aspect of her music career.”
After the injunction in February was thrown out, Gottwald’s attorney released a statement.
“The New York County Supreme Court on Friday found that Kesha is already ‘free’ to record and release music without working with Dr. Luke as a producer if she doesn’t want to. Any claim that she isn’t ‘free’ is a myth.”
Gottwald has maintained that he has not done anything wrong. After the appeal was thrown out on Wednesday, Gottwald took to Twitter to give his comments.
“It’s a shame that there’s so much speculation out there basing itself on so little information. The only truly objective person who knows the facts is the judge… I understand why people without all the information are speaking out. I can appreciate their compassion. But lives can get ruined when there’s a rush to judgment before all the facts come out. Look what happened at UVA, Duke etc.”
On Monday, Kesha posted on Instagram that she was told she had a way out.
“so. I got offered my freedom IF i were to lie. I would have to APOLOGIZE publicly and say that I never got raped. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS behind closed doors. I will not take back the TRUTH. I would rather let the truth ruin my career than lie for a monster ever again.”
Clearly, this is something that Kesha will not ever consider doing.
Do you think Kesha is doing the right thing? Why do you think that the courts are throwing it the claims of Kesha?
[Image via AP Photo/Mary Altaffer]
