Garth Brooks' request to dismiss former makeup artist's sexual assault lawsuit denied
The country music icon was accused in October of raping his former hair and makeup artist in 2019.
Garth Brooks' request to have the lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault thrown out was denied while a related lawsuit plays out in court.
The country music star filed to dismiss the October sexual assault lawsuit filed against him by his former hair and makeup artist, a woman who is proceeding under the alias Jane Roe.
In a Dec. 11 court ruling, U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California Michael W. Fitzgerald denied for now Brooks' motion to dismiss the lawsuit against him, pending the outcome of the defamation and extortion lawsuit in Mississippi that Brooks filed against the woman in federal court in September.
The Tennessean, part of the Paste BN network, reached out to Brooks' lawyers for comment.
The motion to dismiss was denied "without prejudice," meaning Brooks can make the request again in the future.
The judge in the Dec. 11 order also stayed the California lawsuit until a resolution is reached in the Mississippi suit, which hinges on mostly the same set of facts as the California lawsuit.
In the Mississippi case, which was placed under seal a month after it was filed, Brooks used the alias John Doe to preemptively sue the woman before she made the rape allegations against him in court.
Brooks later confirmed he was the one who filed the Mississippi lawsuit, in which he denies the allegations against him and accuses the woman of extorting him by threatening to file the lawsuit against him.
The woman alleged in her lawsuit that Brooks raped and sexually assaulted her in 2019 when she traveled with him to Los Angeles for a Grammy Awards tribute performance. She also said Brooks committed other instances of sexual misconduct against her during her time as an employee.
Brooks' request to dismiss the sexual assault lawsuit follows another request from the singer's legal team. In November, Brooks' lawyers began trying to consolidate the two lawsuits. Attorneys also asked Judge Fitzgerald in the Nov. 1 motion to dismiss Brooks' accuser's claims and ask her to refile them in Mississippi federal court, where Brooks sued her.
Later that month, the lawsuit against Brooks was moved from California state court to federal court.