A choose has dismissed rape claims from one of many many civil lawsuits towards Sean “Diddy” Combs, ruling that the statute of limitations has expired for allegations that the rap mogul pressured a girl to have intercourse and oral intercourse within the Nineteen Nineties.
April Lampros’ claims towards Combs had been trimmed down in a Tuesday (July 8) ruling from New York Decide Leslie A. Stroth. Lampros was the seventh accuser to file a sexual abuse lawsuit towards Combs in Could 2024 — comparatively early within the rapper’s authorized salvo that culminated in a legal trial this month.
Lampros alleged she met Combs when she was a pupil on the Trend Institute of Know-how in 1994, and that he drugged and raped her each vaginally and orally on two separate nights in 1995. Combs allegedly raped Lampros once more after forcing her to have intercourse together with his then-girlfriend Kim Porter in 1996, the lawsuit claimed.
Lampros’ legal professional, Tyrone Blackburn, introduced the claims beneath New York Metropolis’s Gender Motivated Violence Act, which was amended in 2022 to open up a two-year window for sexual assault victims to file claims that might usually be barred by the statute of limitations.
However Decide Stroth says that pursuant to a current ruling from a New York appellate courtroom, this claims window solely applies to alleged cases of sexual abuse that occurred after the GMVA’s authentic passage in December 2000.
“Subsequently, plaintiff’s claims for acts earlier than December 19, 2000 are dismissed as premature,” writes the choose.
This implies all three cases when Combs allegedly raped Lampros are not a part of her lawsuit. She is allowed, nonetheless, to proceed suing Combs over a fourth incident wherein she says the rapper forcibly kissed and groped her within the early aughts. Lampros doesn’t know the precise date of this encounter, saying it occurred in both late 2000 or early 2001.
“To the extent that there’s a query as to conduct occurring within the yr 2000, such will not be dismissed presently, as additional discovery is required to find out the precise date of the alleged incidents,” says Decide Stroth.
Combs’ reps celebrated the choice in a press release on Tuesday, which they are saying “considerably slim[s] the civil case.”
“Importantly, this ruling was made on the pleading stage, and no proof on the surviving declare has been submitted to the courtroom,” added Combs’ workforce. “Mr. Combs has not but had a possibility to contest these false allegations, and the courtroom’s determination thus doesn’t tackle their reality.”
Blackburn, who’s behind lots of the pending civil sexual assault fits towards Combs, tells Billboard he’s continuing “full steam forward” with Lampros’ remaining declare.
“I despatched Sean Combs’ counsel discover that I intend to depose Sean Combs inside 60 days, and I might be serving discovery calls for this night,” Blackburn says.
Lampros sued Combs early within the litigation onslaught that began with singer Cassie Ventura in November 2023. Combs rapidly settled Ventura’s case for $20 million, however a deluge of comparable lawsuits adopted. Prosecutors opened a legal investigation, and Combs was indicted and arrested final yr on fees of sex-trafficking, racketeering and prostitution.
Final week, Combs was convicted of the prostitution counts after a seven-week trial, however jurors acquitted him of working a legal enterprise and forcing Ventura and one other nameless girl often known as “Jane” to have intercourse with escorts throughout drug-fueled intercourse marathons he known as “freak-offs.”
The rap mogul, who’s denied all allegations in each the legal and civil circumstances, is due for sentencing in October. Within the meantime, eh’s persevering with to battle the lawsuits introduced by Lampros and dozens of different alleged victims.