FILE -Sean 'Diddy' Combs participates in "The Four" panel during the FOX Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 4, 2018 (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File).
Defense attorneys for Sean "Diddy" Combs on Friday moved to dismiss a civil racketeering (RICO) lawsuit filed against him and other high-profile defendants by one of his former sound engineers.
In February, Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones Jr. sued Combs for sex trafficking, drug distribution, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. Also named in the lawsuit is Combs' son, Justin Dior Combs, actor Cuba Gooding Jr., an unnamed "Rapper," and an unnamed "R&B Singer."
Since then, an amended complaint was filed in March and a second amended complaint was filed in April — in order to correct various deficiencies and abide by mandatory pleading standards.
Now, Combs' lawyers say Jones anticipates filing yet another iteration of his lawsuit — and are imploring the judge overseeing the case to shut things down by dismissing the complaint entirely.
"Apparently recognizing the [second amended complaint's] insufficiency, Jones repeatedly asks for permission to replead after the Combs Defendants' motion is inevitably granted," the latest Combs filing reads. "Leave to replead — in what would be his fourth complaint — should be denied as futile. Despite his efforts to supplement his pleading with new allegations in his Opposition, nothing in the Opposition suggests that Jones has additional facts to allege that would remedy the essential deficiencies of his claims."
The defendants' motion to dismiss was filed in August. Weeks later, after a steady drip of bad news, Combs was indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York on charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
In late September, in a hard-charging motion in opposition, Jones' attorneys took note of the nearly-year-worth of bad press and the allegations contained in the federal indictment.
From the plaintiff's motion [emphasis in original]:
The [court] must deny the RICO Enterprise Defendants Hail Mary Motion to Dismiss. Sean Combs ("SC"), Love Records ("LR"), Kristina Khorram ("KK"), and Combs Global Enterprises ("CGE") (collectively, "the Combs RICO Enterprise"), the Court needs only to Google, and it would be abundantly clear that SC has zero credibility, and to quote United State President Joe Biden, he "has the morals of an alley cat." SC is a criminally indicted, racketeering sex trafficking, illegal prostitution facilitating, accused drugs and guns dealer, accused Mexican cartel drug runner, accused murderer, and confirmed woman beater.
Attorneys for the fallen-from-grace hip-hop mogul did not appreciate the verbiage employed by his one-time record producer.
"Because Jones is unable to refute any of the Combs Defendants' arguments for dismissal of the incoherent Second Amended Complaint, his Opposition focuses heavily on ad hominem attacks," the defense reply memorandum reads. "For the most part, Jones does not even attempt to argue that he has pled the elements of his purported claims."
The Jones filing also sought formal judicial notice for the indictment — essentially asking the court to formally acknowledge the allegations leveled by law enforcement. Specifically, the judge was asked to "notice that the indictment closely mimics Plaintiff Jones's Second Amended Complaint."
Combs' attorneys aim to rubbish this effort.
"Jones impermissibly attempts to piggy-back off the Indictment to make up for the [second amended complaint's] failure to plead any of the elements of a RICO claim," the memo reads.
To hear the defense tell it, in each instance, Jones' claims in the lawsuit against Combs fail on a basic, procedural level.
From the memo, at length:
His centerpiece RICO claim still fails off the bat for lack of standing because he has not pled any economic injury to himself; nor can he rely on the Indictment to make up for his failure to allege predicate acts or the numerous other requirements for this claim. His TVPA claim still fails because of his admitted inability to plead a causal link between any threat or promise and any commercial sex act. His vague assault claim against Mr. Combs fails because Jones has still not identified when, where, or how these purported acts occurred. His premises liability claims against Mr. Combs fail because he still has not alleged that any claimed assault by third parties was foreseeable or that he suffered any injury. His emotional distress claims fail because they are duplicative, because Jones does not allege the requisite negligence and "outrageous" conduct necessary to support them, and because he fails to plead any injury. And his breach of oral contract claim still fails as barred by the Statute of Frauds because it involves a royalty claim that cannot be performed within a year.
Combs, by way of his attorneys, purports to have more or less put the kibosh on Jones' claims in his prior filings. And, the reply memorandum argues, the plaintiff should not get another chance to shore up his serially-deficient legal arguments and factual allegations.
"Jones has already amended his complaint twice and the operative pleading is 98 pages long — if he had any facts to allege against the Combs Defendants that made out a valid claim, he would (and should) have alleged them by now," the memo concludes. "His request to file another amended pleading should be denied as futile."
