In the ongoing legal battle between Nicki Minaj, her husband Kenneth Petty, and his accuser in the 1994 sexual assault case, Jennifer Hough, the artist is said to have won a little victory.
According to Rolling Stone, a federal clerk for the Eastern District of New York decided that Minaj did not fail to reply to Hough’s harassment case, dismissing Hough’s request for a $20 million judgment and a fine for the couple.
Minaj hired a lawyer last week to defend her in the ongoing dispute, according to the court record, but Petty had “not filed an answer or otherwise acted with respect to the complaint."
Minaj stated in an official sworn declaration that she thought she hired a lawyer in September when initial contacts were held, but that payment of his retainer was delayed due to “innocent miscommunications."
“My failure to respond to the complaint was the product of an innocent mistake, and I ask the court to excuse the delay so that I can defend what I believe to be an entirely frivolous case,” Minaj explained in her statement.
“I confirm the truth of those portions of [the] defendant’s declaration concerning my role in her failure to secure my services promptly,” attorney Judd Burstein wrote in a related statement.
Despite the court’s decision, Hough’s lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn, insisted that the default motion against Petty for the $20 million will be pursued.
Blackburn said in a statement to Rolling Stone, “It’s interesting that Kenneth Petty is currently in the Eastern District of New York suing the state of New York, but he has no respect for this proceeding and no respect for this judge to come forward and to answer for raping Jennifer Hough in 1994 and all the harassment he and his wife and his goons visited upon her since then.”
Hough filed a complaint against Minaj and Petty in August, alleging that the duo used different harassment and intimidation tactics to persuade her to recant her claim that Petty sexually attacked her.
she says she’s asking for now. “Unspecified damages for the deliberate infliction of mental distress,"
The post “Big win for Nicki Minaj as court refutes $20 million default judgement in harassments’ case" fiest appeared on Lindaikejiblog.
