*In a dramatic escalation of a high-profile legal dispute, Motown icon Smokey Robinson has accused four former housekeepers, who allege he sexually assaulted them, of orchestrating a scheme to extort a massive settlement by undermining his ongoing international tour.
As Billboard reports, the 85-year-old singer’s legal team filed a motion on June 12 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, asserting that the plaintiffs are intentionally stalling the lawsuit to maximize financial pressure on Robinson and his wife, Frances Gladney.
The housekeepers, identified as Jane Does 1-4, filed a $50 million lawsuit on May 6, claiming Robinson subjected them to repeated rape, sexual battery, false imprisonment, and labor abuses at his Los Angeles-area homes between 2007 and 2024. Robinson has vehemently denied the allegations, calling them “gratuitous and slanderous” in a $500 million countersuit filed on May 28, alongside his wife. The countersuit accuses the women of defamation, financial elder abuse, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleging they demanded $100 million from the couple before filing their lawsuit.
According to Robinson’s attorney, Christopher Frost, the plaintiffs are refusing to engage in the discovery process, a tactic he claims is designed to prolong the case and harm Robinson’s livelihood.
“Plaintiffs have effectively conceded that their intention was to file a salacious lawsuit, do nothing to prosecute it, neuter the Robinsons’ ability to defend themselves, and let the lawsuit linger publicly while the Robinsons have to live every day under the unfair specter of public opinion and while Mr. Robinson’s tour is negatively affected,” Frost stated in the court filing.
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He further argued that this strategy aims to “exact leverage” by disrupting profits from Robinson’s tour, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of his album A Quiet Storm.
“This plays into plaintiffs and cross-defendants’ strategy to exact leverage on Mr. and Ms. Robinson,” Frost adds. “The longer Mr. Robinson’s livelihood is harmed, the more pressure there is for the Robinsons to give in to plaintiffs’ and cross-defendants’ extortionate demands.”
Frost’s motion seeks a court order to compel one of the accusers, Jane Doe 2, to attend a deposition within two weeks and requests that the plaintiffs cover nearly $5,000 in legal fees incurred by the Robinsons. “If plaintiffs and cross-defendants are not sanctioned for their abusive behavior, they will expect that they can continue this behavior during the pendency of this case, which will only create more delays and more motion practice,” Frost wrote, urging the court to curb the alleged tactics.
The housekeepers’ attorneys, John Harris and Herbert Hayden, fired back on June 13, condemning Robinson’s motion as a “calculated effort to misuse the discovery process in a manner that is both retaliatory and chilling.”
They accused Robinson of targeting Jane Doe 2 to “retraumatize a survivor of sexual violence under the guise of lawful process” and described the motion as a “transparent attempt to chill participation in this case and deter other survivors from coming forward.”
Harris and Hayden, who previously labeled Robinson a “serial and sick rapist” at a press conference, also plan to file an anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss Robinson’s countersuit, arguing it is a baseless attempt to intimidate their clients.
The legal battle has drawn significant attention, with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigating the housekeepers’ sexual assault claims following their police report. Robinson’s team welcomes the probe, with his attorney stating, “We feel confident that a determination will be made that Mr. Robinson did nothing wrong.”
MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: Smokey Robinson Counters Sexual Assault Claims with $500M Defamation Lawsuit
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