Sean “Diddy” Combs files a motion to dismiss some claims in a sexual assault lawsuit

LOS ANGELES – Defending a lawsuit from a woman who accused him of sexual assault, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers filed a motion Friday to dismiss some claims that were not legally permissible at the time of the alleged incident.

The motion, filed in a New York court, claims that Combs cannot be sued because certain laws did not exist when Joi Dickerson-Neal made the allegations against him in 1991.

The music mogul’s lawyers want certain statutes of Dickerson-Neal’s allegations, such as revenge porn and human trafficking, to be dismissed with prejudice.

In a filing last year, she said Combs “intentionally drugged” her, then took her home and sexually assaulted her after a date in Harlem when she was a 19-year-old college student.

Unbeknownst to them, Combs videotaped the attack and later shared it with several friends in the music industry, the lawsuit says. He denied the allegations and accused her of taking advantage of New York law that temporarily extended the statute of limitations.

While Friday’s motion seeks to dismiss the case on legal grounds, Diddy’s lawyers and the mogul “vehemently deny” what they describe as “numerous false, offensive and salacious allegations” in the lawsuit.

Dickerson-Neal’s lawsuit came nearly three decades after his alleged misconduct, and the New York State Revenge Porn Law was only codified in 2019, Combs’ lawyers said. His lawyers also pointed to several others, including the New York Services for Victims of Human Trafficking Law, which went into effect in 2007.

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Dickerson-Neal did.

Last month, Combs’ properties in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by federal authorities as part of a sex trafficking investigation. The criminal investigation represents a significant escalation in the investigation into Combs, who was recently a defendant in several sexual abuse lawsuits.

In a lawsuit Combs settled the day after it was filed in November, his former protégé and girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, sued him for years of sexual abuse, including rape. The lawsuit says he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed her.

In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging that Combs forced him to recruit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.

Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said he raped her two decades ago when she was 17.

Combs and his lawyers have denied all allegations in the lawsuits.

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This story corrects the spelling of Joi Dickerson-Neal’s last name.