*Tasha K continues to face hurdles in her ongoing efforts to appeal a $4 million court loss to Cardi B.
We reported previously that a federal judge ruled that the gossip blogger must either immediately pay Cardi nearly $4 million as part of a defamation verdict, or secure a bond covering the entire amount.
Tasha K, whose real name is Latasha Kebe, was ordered by a judge in January to pay Cardi $4 million in damages following a string of defamatory statements she made on her platform about the rapper. Since the ruling, Tasha has told fans that she supposedly doesn’t have the money.
All Hip Hop reports that a Georgia judge has prevented Tasha from introducing Cardi’s gang affiliations as character evidence in the appeal case.
READ MORE: Judge Orders Tasha K to Immediately Pay Cardi B $4M or Secure Bond in Defamation Case
“In order for the jury to determine whether [Cardi B] has been defamed, placed in a false light, and emotionally distress, the jury must know about [her] gang affiliation because it is an extremely relevant part of who [she] is,” Tasha K’s lawyer Olga Izmaylova explained, per the All Hip Hop report. “[Tasha K] made the same argument in response to [Cardi B’s] request to exclude [the rapper’s] own social media comments. The district court prevented this evidence from coming in.”
“The district court applied the incorrect legal standard by determining that character evidence was irrelevant and inadmissible in a defamation action and, therefore, the district court has made a clear error of judgment and should be overturned,” the attorney added.
Cardi (real name Belcalis Almánzar) has started the collection process and her legal team recently told a judge that they want Tasha to immediately pay up or agree to a supersedeas bond.
A supersedeas bond, which is often referred to as a defendant’s appeal bond, would allow the appellant to delay payments of a judgment until an appeal is over. In this case, should Tasha K lose her appeal against the $4 million she has been ordered to pay, she would ultimately have no choice but to cough up the money.
Tasha K’s attorney believes she deserves a new trial because the jury didn’t hear all of the relevant evidence about Cardi B in the case, All Hip Hop reports.
“[Tasha K has] shown a substantial prejudicial effect because it’s extremely likely that the erroneously excluded character evidence would have impacted the jury’s verdict, had the jury been able to consider it,” Izmaylova contended. “The fact that a jury unanimously reached the conclusion that [Cardi B] was telling the truth and [Tasha K was] lying does not demonstrate that [the latter] acted with actual malice.”
The lawyer concluded, “This Court should reverse the Amended Judgment and remand this case for a new trial.”
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