Diddy and his attorneys want one of the sexual assault lawsuits tossed out of court, but if they’re successful it could change the game in dozens of the other civil cases he’s facing.
Here’s the deal … Diddy’s zeroing-in on New York’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law (GMVA), because that’s the statute a Jane Doe used to sue him back in December for a sexual assault she claims happened at a charity basketball game in 1991 at City College.
The date is what’s important here, at least according to Diddy’s attorney Mark Cuccaro. In the docs, obtained by TMZ, he points out the GMVA was passed on December 19, 2000. Back in 2022, New York made an amendment that extended the statute of limitations for claims under the GMVA, from 7 to 9 years.
In fact, the extended window to make a claim just ended on Feb. 28 — and this is why there was a flurry of new lawsuits filed against Diddy in the last 2 weeks.
However, Diddy’s saying that extension doesn’t allow victims to sue under the GMVA if the alleged incident happened before the original law was passed in 2000. Translation … you can’t sue under a law that didn’t exist when you claim you were assaulted.
Plus, as his team has said all along … “Mr. Combs denies the entirely false and salacious claims against him in the Complaint and is confident that he (and the Company Defendants (against whom no misconduct or participation is even alleged) would be fully vindicated if this case were to proceed to trial.”
On that basis, Diddy’s filed his motion to dismiss the 1991 Jane Doe case, which by the way, was filed by Tony Buzbee — and, as you know, he represents dozens of other clients suing Diddy.
TMZ.com
If a judge buys Diddy’s argument on the GMVA … it could impact every lawsuit filed against him for alleged assaults occurring before December 2000.
Buzbee doesn’t seem worried, he tells TMZ … “Of course [Diddy] is arguing that. But his team is dead wrong on the law. Instead, the case law is overwhelmingly on the side of the alleged victims on this legal point.”
