Lawyers representing Sean “Diddy” Combs have taken action in response to a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault, filing a motion on Friday to dismiss certain claims that were not legally recognized at the time of the alleged incident.
The motion, submitted in a New York court, argues that Combs cannot be held liable for allegations that involve laws that were not in place when Joi Dickerson-Deal made her accusations in 1991.
Specifically, Combs’ legal team seeks to have claims related to revenge porn and human trafficking dismissed with prejudice. These claims, they argue, did not exist as legal statutes at the time of the alleged assault.
In her filing last year, Dickerson-Deal claimed that Combs drugged her intentionally before sexually assaulting her following a date in Harlem when she was a 19-year-old college student. The lawsuit alleges that Combs videotaped the assault without her knowledge and later shared it with multiple individuals in the music industry.
Combs has vehemently denied these allegations, accusing Dickerson-Deal of attempting to exploit New York laws that temporarily extended the statute of limitations for sexual assault cases.
According to Combs’ attorneys, Dickerson-Deal’s claim surfaced nearly three decades after the alleged incident, with some of the accusations falling outside the scope of laws enacted after the fact. For instance, New York’s Revenge Porn Law was not established until 2019, long after the events in question.
Furthermore, Combs’ legal team highlighted the New York Services for Victims of Human Trafficking Law, which did not come into effect until 2007, emphasizing the inapplicability of certain claims to the timeline of events outlined in the lawsuit.
As the legal proceedings unfold, both parties are expected to present their arguments before the court, with the outcome potentially shaping the trajectory of the case against Diddy.
