Prominent Texas lawyer Tony Buzbee has failed for now to defeat a $25 million defamation lawsuit brought against him by a Mississippi attorney he accused of soliciting his former clients to bring lawsuits against him, in the latest development of a sprawling legal war involving rapper Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter.
U.S. District Judge Vincent Brown in Galveston, Texas, ruled on October 1 that Buzbee and his law firm must face the lawsuit from attorney Marcy Croft, which grew out of litigation involving Carter. The judge denied a motion to dismiss, finding that at this early stage of the case the court could 'reasonably infer' that Buzbee made defamatory statements about Croft, who has represented Carter's entertainment company Roc Nation.
Buzbee responded by email that Croft's lawsuit is a 'completely frivolous case and it will massively backfire on her.' Gregg Costa, a lawyer at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher representing Croft, said in a statement that they looked forward to 'holding the defendants accountable for the reputational damage they caused to a distinguished and honorable lawyer.'
The ruling marks the latest front in a multi-front legal battle spanning nearly two years. At its core was a lawsuit Buzbee filed against Carter in Manhattan federal court on behalf of an anonymous plaintiff who claimed she was drugged and raped by Carter and Sean 'Diddy' Combs when she was 13 at an afterparty for the 2000 MTV Music Awards. Carter and Combs denied the allegations, and the plaintiff later withdrew the lawsuit.
That suit spawned a web of related litigation. Carter sued Buzbee in California state court for defamation, and also brought a defamation case in New York federal court after Buzbee's anonymous client dropped her lawsuit against the rapper and music mogul. Carter claims Buzbee pursued the case despite knowing the allegations to be false, in hopes of securing a payout, while Buzbee has alleged Carter was using the court system to harass both the alleged victim and her attorneys. In another dramatic turn, Buzbee's former client not only recanted her rape claims against Carter but said she had never even met him, adding that she still asserts she was sexually assaulted but did not know whether Carter was the perpetrator — and did not know Buzbee would file a lawsuit on her behalf.
Meanwhile, Buzbee brought his own case in Texas against Croft, Roc Nation, and Carter's lawyers at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, alleging that Croft used agents who solicited his former clients in order to bring claims against him. Both of those cases were dismissed, setting the stage for Croft's counterattack.
Croft's case cites social media posts by Buzbee that claim illegal client solicitation as part of what she describes as a 'coordinated campaign to falsely accuse a well-respected attorney of criminal conduct.' The lawsuit seeks a minimum of $25 million in damages. With Judge Brown's ruling, Buzbee will now have to defend those claims in court — another bruising round in a feud that has already produced some of the highest-stakes and most bitterly personal litigation the entertainment-law world has seen in years.