Producer Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald won part of his defamation suit against Kesha yesterday after a New York State Supreme Court Judge ruled that a series of her texts to Lady Gaga were both false and defamatory.
Kesha and Gottwald have been locked in a highly publicized legal battle for years now since Kesha first came forward to the public with claims of sexual abuse and misconduct. The claims that led to the February 6th ruling, however, had to do with texts sent by Kesha to Lady Gaga concerning Katy Perry. Kesha alleged in the text messages from February 2016 that Gottwald had raped Perry, which Perry then denied.
With no evidence to prove Kesha's statement, Judge Jennifer G. Schecter ruled that the text messages — even if only sent to Gaga — were defamatory. In addition to this verdict, Kesha was also found to be in breach of her contract with KMI, Gottwald's company, and was ordered to shell out $374,000 in damages.
The legal battle between the two is not over yet. Kesha's legal team plans to appeal the decision and Gottwald's legal team plans to move forward with the lawsuits concerning Kesha's various other claims for defamation. Gottwald's team shared the following statement with PAPER:
"Kesha abandoned her meritless case against Dr. Luke more than three years ago. The only remaining lawsuit is Dr. Luke's case against Kesha for defamation and breach of contract. Dr. Luke is pursuing this lawsuit to seek recovery for the serious harm Kesha's false accusations of rape have caused Dr. Luke, his family and his business. Today's important decision by the Court in Dr. Luke's lawsuit brings him closer to the justice that he seeks. First, the Court has now ruled that Kesha made a false and defamatory accusation about Dr. Luke when she baselessly claimed that he raped Katy Perry. Second, the Court rejected Kesha's attempts to invoke legal technicalities to avoid responsibility for her statements. And third, the Court also correctly held that Kesha breached her contract with Dr. Luke's company. Dr. Luke looks forward to the trial of his case where he will prove that Kesha's other false statements about him were equally false and defamatory."
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