Jay-Z’s Defamation Lawsuit Against Lawyer Who Filed Rape Case Faces Skeptical Appeals Court

A California appeals court is leaning towards affirming the dismissal of Jay-Z ’s extortion and defamation lawsuit against personal injury attorney Tony Buzbee .

A panel of state appellate judges heard arguments on Thursday (Aug.

20) in Jay-Z’s Los Angeles case against Buzbee, who filed a short-lived 2024 lawsuit accusing the rap icon (Shawn Carter) of raping a 13-year-old girl alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs decades earlier.

Jay-Z vehemently denied this and then went on the offensive, suing Buzbee in two different forums for allegedly fabricating the claims in pursuit of money and publicity.

Related Jay-Z Nemesis Tony Buzbee Quotes Rapper’s Lyrics From ‘Big Pimpin’ in Latest Legal Filings The rapper’s California case relied heavily on a recorded interview between private investigators and the anonymous rape accuser, known as Jane Doe, in which the woman supposedly admitted the claims were false and that Buzbee pressured her to lie.

Judge Mark H.

Epstein ruled last July that this interview is inadmissible under the legal hearsay rule — and as a result, he threw out the case due to insufficient evidence at the outset.

Jay-Z appealed.

As oral arguments began Thursday, three appellate judges announced that their tentative thinking was to affirm Judge Epstein’s dismissal.

Judge Stephen Goorvitch voiced concerns about the origin of this recording, since it’s not clear who hired the private investigators who spoke to Doe.

Jay-Z’s attorneys say it wasn’t them.

“My concern is a plaintiff’s lawyer shows up in court and says, ‘Magically this interview has been dropped in my lap, I had nothing to do with it,’” said Judge Goorvitch.

“We have no information about where this came from.

It looks highly suspicious that somehow, somebody talked to Mr.