Attorneys for a woman who recently dropped a harassment lawsuit against Nicki Minaj revealed Thursday (Jan. 20) that the rapper was only dismissed from the case because they plan to refile the same accusations in California.
Jennifer Hough sued Minaj (real name: Onika Maraj) and husband Kenneth Petty last year over allegations that he raped her decades earlier and then both had harassed her to stay quiet, but last week she voluntarily dropped Minaj from the case without any explanation.
During a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, Hough’s attorney’s revealed why: They plan to refile the case in California federal court. As first reported by Rolling Stone, Hough’s attorneys told the judge they believe it to be a more appropriate jurisdiction for the case because Minaj lives there.
In a statement released after the hearing, Minaj’s attorney called the plan to refile the case in California a “frivolous gambit” by Hough’s attorneys to avoid sanctions he had recently requested that the judge impose against them as punishment for filing a baseless lawsuit.
“As usual, they have decided to adopt a tactic without bothering to research the law,” said Judd Burstein, lead counsel for Minaj. “Had they done so, they would realize that re-filing their frivolous action in another jurisdiction will only result in another court sanctioning them.”
Tyrone Blackburne, an attorney for Hough, confirmed that the case would be refiled in California, but with “different causes of action” and potentially a new, unnamed defendant. He also fired back directly at the accusations from Burstein.
“If I were Ms. Maraj I would pay close attention to the bill she receives from her counsel,” Blackburne said, using Minaj’s legal name. “From the beginning of the lawsuit he has engaged in a billing exercise proposing to file a countless number of frivolous sanctions, none of which were filed, and none of which has any merit. I look forward to receiving this latest edition of her counsel’s billing exercise, carefully framed as a sanctions motion.”
Hough sued in August, claiming that she had been raped by Petty in 1994 and then bullied into remaining quiet. She said she had been “traumatized her entire life” and then she and family members had been subjected to harassment and intimidation by Minaj and Petty. Both have strongly denied the accusations.
After months of messy procedural wrangling – Hough said they should be hit with automatic “default” judgments for failing to respond, while Minaj and Petty said they were never properly served – Hough dropped her claims against Minaj without any explanation. At the time, Blackburne told Billboard to “stay tuned!”
Though the case against Minaj was dropped last week and will be refiled in California, the New York claims against Petty will continue for the time being. Hough is still seeking a default judgment against him, which the judge will soon decide whether or not to grant.