A federal decide has dismissed a sexual assault lawsuit towards the previous head of the Grammy Awards, after the plaintiff fell out along with her attorneys and mentioned in court docket papers that she feared for her security and well-being if her actual title had been revealed through the case.
The swimsuit was dismissed on Friday “with out prejudice” by Decide Analisa Torres of Federal District Court docket in Manhattan, which means it may very well be refiled once more sooner or later.
The plaintiff filed her swimsuit anonymously in New York State Supreme Court docket in November, saying that Neil Portnow, the previous chief government of the Recording Academy, had drugged and raped her in a New York lodge room in 2018. Mr. Portnow, who led the Grammy group from 2002 to 2019, denied the accusation, and in court docket papers his attorneys have mentioned his encounter with the girl was consensual.
The case was eliminated to federal court docket in January, and in April, Mr. Portnow’s attorneys mentioned they’d file a movement to compel the girl — who’s described in court docket papers solely as a musician from exterior the USA — to make use of her actual title.
In response, the girl filed an uncommon direct attraction to the decide, asking to have her case dismissed, and saying that she feared “potential grave hurt” if her title turned recognized. Her attorneys then requested permission to withdraw as her counsel, saying that “the attorney-client relationship has deteriorated past restore.”
In her letter to the decide, the girl mentioned that her lead legal professional, Jeffrey R. Anderson, had truly resigned days earlier and instructed her in a letter: “Now that the defendants introduced your case into the federal court docket the place your anonymity and your title can not be protected, you’re confronted and we’re confronted with the potential for grave additional hurt.”
Legal professionals for Mr. Portnow wrote to the decide saying that any dismissal of the case must be “with prejudice,” which might stop her from bringing it once more.
The girl, they wrote, had engaged in “vexatious and harassing conduct that has triggered substantial hurt” to Mr. Portnow. Their response included what they mentioned had been excerpts from textual content messages and emails; they mentioned the girl had proposed marriage to Mr. Portnow and requested him to write down a letter of advice for an immigration utility.
In rejecting Mr. Portnow’s request, Decide Torres mentioned that Mr. Portnow wouldn’t endure “plain authorized prejudice” if one other case had been introduced. The decide additionally famous the textual content messages and emails he cited, saying: “Portnow’s one-sided characterization of the occasions at concern precedes discovery, and Portnow has not supplied proof that the litigation itself was filed with an ‘in poor health motive.’”
