CNN
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Editor’s note: Additional information on this story and the identity of the celebrity individual involved in this complaint was revealed in a subsequent lawsuit on Thursday.
In a highly unusual legal battle, an anonymous plaintiff who describes themselves as “a celebrity and public figure who resides in Tennessee” is urging a federal court in Mississippi to declare a sexual assault accuser’s allegations untrue and stop her from further publicizing them — before she’s even filed a lawsuit — claiming that she is attempting to extort and defame him with “false allegations” that would “irreparably harm” his reputation and career.
The plaintiff’s lawsuit, which was filed in mid-September, prompted his accuser to fire back this week, opposing the celebrity’s efforts to stay anonymous.
The female accuser, identified in the filings as “Jane Roe,” is asking the court to deny the request from the high-profile “John Doe” to proceed under a pseudonym, arguing in her filing that he is an “alleged sexual assault predator” who should not receive special treatment.
“Mr. Doe believes that he is entitled to the same protection victims receive – not to prevent unnecessary re-traumatization, but rather, to maintain his celebrity ‘reputation,’” the accuser’s attorney wrote in a response brief this week, which was obtained by CNN.
“Our civil court system is designed to resolve disputes and provide injured parties a means of redress,” Roe’s filing states. “It is supposed to be a level playing field. The system is not in place to allow wealthy wrongdoers the ability to run work-arounds on sexual assault victims who attempt to hold perpetrators accountable. This is precisely what Mr. Doe is asking the court to help him do.”
An attorney for John Doe did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
‘A celebrity and public figure’
Other than being described in his complaint as a “celebrity and public figure who resides in Tennessee,” no other details regarding John Doe have been revealed. In Jane Roe’s filing, she describes Doe as having “millions of fans” and “multi-millionaire resources.”
Roe, in her filing, describes herself as a “professional make-up artist and hair stylist, who has worked in the music industry” for more than three decades. She claimed she worked “periodically” for Doe over 15 years and has done his hair and make-up, as well as his wife’s.
In her memorandum, Roe said she plans to publicly file her complaint this week – in which she would name the celebrity as a defendant – under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act.
In his complaint, Doe claims Roe’s attorney sent him a “confidential” demand letter “alleging a litany of sexual misconduct by Plaintiff ranging from allegations of sexual ‘grooming,’ creation of a sexually hostile work environment, unwanted sexual touching, and sexual assault,” after he declined Roe’s request for “salaried employment and medical benefits.”
In her filing, Roe alleges that Doe shared his sexual fantasies with her, groped her breasts, once walked out of the shower naked and forced her to touch him and raped her during a work trip in Los Angeles in 2019.
Doe said that Roe has attempted to extort him for millions of dollars through “untrue, lewd allegations” and “outrageous conduct.”
“Defendant’s allegations are not true,” Doe’s lawsuit states. “Defendant is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit.”
The celebrity plaintiff also claimed in his lawsuit that his accuser alleged that he “planned to hire someone to murder her,” which he denied.
Doe’s suit asks the court to declare Roe’s sexual misconduct allegations untrue, pay compensatory and punitive damages and be prevented from further publicizing the claims.
According to Roe’s filing, the celebrity filed his lawsuit after he learned that his accuser was planning to publicly file her own lawsuit, which came after she attempted to settle privately.
“Mr. Doe commenced this frivolous action after he learned that Ms. Roe intended to hold him accountable for his conduct and sexual violence,” the filing states, with Roe’s attorney writing that the celebrity preemptively filing his own complaint amounts to an “obvious attempt to further control and bully his sexual assault victim.”
“Mr. Doe is desperate to prevent his millions of fans from learning about the horrific things he has said and done to a junior female employee who did nothing to deserve such treatment,” her attorney said in court documents this week.
The plaintiff’s request to proceed under a pseudonym requires approval from the court.
‘A major hurdle’
Legal experts say that the celebrity plaintiff is not likely to prevail in this case, noting that the argument of reputational harm is not strong enough, given that most all lawsuits contain some component of embarrassment or humiliation.
“Courts generally err on the side of transparency, and do not like to conceal litigation from public view— absent compelling circumstances,” CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said. “Shielding allegations from public view is extremely disfavored. Therefore, a court is likely to reject any attempt at forcing litigants to battle anonymously. The court may require further legal filings or a hearing before making the final decision, but the celebrity here faces a major hurdle in keeping this out of the public domain.”
Jackson added that any accused individual can file counterclaims for defamation.
“That is the remedy for anyone facing false accusation — not hiding it from the public,” he said.
When contacted by CNN, the woman’s attorney, Douglas H. Wigdor, said the preemptive complaint was an “unprecedented attempt to game the judicial system” to avoid being publicly named.
“Our judicial system was designed to be transparent, and it has been my experience that the filing of sexual assault complaints often leads to other victims who have suffered in silence coming forward,” Wigdor told CNN. “I have been fortunate over the years to represent courageous survivors who have taken the first step in holding powerful people accountable for their actions by filing a public complaint and in this matter, we intend on doing just that.”
