Another blow for Kesha in her legal battles with Dr. Luke

Kesha has had another blow in her legal battles with producer Dr. Luke, the Hollywood Reporter revealed

A New York judge has allowed an expansion of Dr. Luke’s defamation suit against the singer in response to her 2014 civil suit alleging that he raped and abused her while they were working together.

The decision by Supreme Court justice Jennifer Schecter could mean that Kesha and her legal representatives could be liable for what they discussed in the case, and for Kesha’s comments in the press and on social media.

This was unusual, The Hollywood Reporter noted, explaining “statements made by lawyers in the course of litigation are often deemed privileged and non-actionable.”

Justice Schecter made the decision after reviewing earlier testimony presented by Dr. Luke that Kesha had only made the rape claims as part of an elaborate strategy to get out of her contract with him.

In one email exchange dated May 25, 2012, her manager Ken Levitan told colleagues he had dinner with Kesha the night before and she “beyond despises Luke.”

Artist manager and promoter Irving Azoff, responded, “Get me in the mix. I will ruin him.”

Levitan said, “We need the album done and it’s close…there are huge hits on it…let’s ruin him after he delivers.”

Another memo, this time involving PR company Sunshine Sachs, stated: “Our goal is to help extricate CLIENT K from her current professional relationship with PERSON L by inciting a deluge of negative media attention and public pressure on the basis of the horrific personal abuses presented in the lawsuit.”The PR company had leaked details of Kesha’s allegations before they were filed in court.

Referring to this evidence, and others filed, Justice Schecte found that a “trier of fact could possibly conclude that the California complaint was a sham maliciously filed solely to defame plaintiffs as part of Kesha’s alleged campaign to destroy Gottwald (Luke) as leverage to renegotiate her contracts.”

Kesha also faces scrutiny in her insinuations that Dr. Luke also assaulted Katy Perry.

Perry stated in a court deposition that she had not been sexually abused by the producer.

Kesha is also said to have texted Lady Gaga in February 2016 claiming Luke’s assault on Perry.

Lady Gaga’s court deposition was that she had heard the rumour but was not in a position to confirm or deny its factual accuracy.

Both the contents of the depositions were made public by Dr. Luke’s legal team to show she had deliberately spread falsehoods about the producer.