Nigel Lythgoe has been hit with one other sexual assault lawsuit simply as he filed his official response denying Paula Abdul’s bombshell allegations made in her December case.
The most recent lawsuit — filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court docket by the identical attorneys representing the “Opposites Entice” singer and one other Lythgoe accuser in a pending lawsuit — alleges that the embattled “So You Suppose You Can Dance” and “American Idol” producer sexually assaulted a longtime skilled colleague at his house in Bel-Air throughout a enterprise assembly in 2018.
The redacted criticism, posted on the web site of the regulation agency Johnson & Johnson LLP, accuses the 74-year-old producer of sexual assault and battery, gender violence, sexual harassment, and intentional infliction of emotional misery. The accuser, recognized anonymously as Jane Doe, alleges that Lythgoe “compelled Jane Doe in opposition to an exterior wall of the property after which [started] licking her neck, touching her genitalia, and [groping] her throughout.”
“Jane Doe didn’t consent to this assault and left Mr. Lythgoe’s residence in such a state of shock that she couldn’t drive herself house for almost thirty minutes,” the regulation agency mentioned.
The plaintiff, who brings Lythgoe’s whole variety of accusers to 5 so far, is in search of a number of unspecified damages within the case and joins a rising checklist of girls alleging misconduct by Lythgoe.
Representatives for Lythgoe didn’t touch upon the 2018 allegations when reached Wednesday by The Instances. Nevertheless, they’ve beforehand denied Abdul’s claims, and people made by three different girls who introduced fits in opposition to Lythgoe. (Two former contestants from a short-lived sequence got here ahead in January and one other lady introduced allegations from 2016 in February.)
In the meantime, Lythgoe’s lawyer, Marina Z. Beck, on Tuesday filed the producer’s official response to Abdul’s lawsuit, which accused him of sexually assaulting Abdul twice throughout her time on his exhibits. The Grammy-winning former “Idol” and “So You Suppose You Can Dance” choose additionally alleged that she suffered bullying and harassment and gender pay discrimination whereas serving as a outstanding public face of the hit actuality packages.
“Sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and gender violence are despicable, insupportable, and life-changing. These legally liable for such abuse needs to be held accountable,” in keeping with Lythgoe’s response, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court docket and obtained Wednesday by The Instances.
“False accusations of sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and gender violence are additionally despicable, insupportable, and life-changing. Abdul’s accusations in opposition to Lythgoe are false, despicable, insupportable, and life-changing. These allegations are the worst type of character assassination on Lythgoe,” his attorneys mentioned.
His lawyer known as Abdul a “well-documented fabulist,” alleging that her accusations about Lythgoe “are pure fiction” being leveraged “as a ploy for long-ago misplaced relevance and fame and/or for unjustified revenue forward of her introduced ‘Magic Summer season’ 2024 tour.”
“With fabricated allegations relationship again over 20 years, whereas standing on the shoulders of these the system was created to guard, Abdul has abused the authorized course of for her personal private and egocentric beneficial properties. This, too, is insupportable. Lythgoe will proceed to advertise the dissemination of fact — which confirms that Abdul just isn’t a sufferer of sexual assault on the hand of Lythgoe, however it’s Lythgoe who has been a sufferer of Abdul’s appalling lies,” the response mentioned.
In January, Fox dropped Lythgoe from “So You Suppose You Can Dance” forward of the dance competitors’s 18th season and changed him with “Dance Mothers” alum Jojo Siwa.
Beck described Lythgoe and Abdul as longtime mates who frolicked with one another’s households and frequented occasions collectively whereas collaborating on initiatives. Citing Abdul’s “optimistic emotions” towards Lythgoe, the attorneys included copies of “adoring messages and feedback” made in textual content messages and social media posts that “underscore the frivolousness and falsity of her go well with.”
“It’s unthinkable that Abdul would even tolerate Lythgoe’s bodily proximity not to mention ship him adoring messages and sexually provocative jokes if her allegations have been true — which, clearly, they aren’t,” the response mentioned.
Moreover, the lawyer argued that the accusations made in Abdul’s criticism “lack specificity as to when, the place and the way any alleged abuse occurred and as to who obtained discover to it” and that they “stretch credulity.” Beck argues that Lythgoe championed and fought for Abdul to be included in “American Idol” and “So You Suppose You Can Dance” regardless of “the business’s hesitation to work with Abdul, partly as a result of fame she developed due to her drug-fueled erratic habits.”
Beck argues that Abdul fails to state details adequate to represent a explanation for motion in opposition to Lythgoe, that her causes of motion are barred by the statute of limitations and can’t be revived and that her claims are barred beneath the equitably Doctrine of Laches (which means that she can not increase her declare on account of an unreasonable delay in pursuing it), amongst a number of different authorized defenses.
Lythgoe is asking that Abdul “takes nothing” by the use of her criticism, that it’s dismissed in its entirety with prejudice and that Lythgoe recovers his authorized charges, in addition to additional aid the courtroom “deems simply and correct.”
A spokesperson for Abdul didn’t instantly reply Wednesday to The Instances’ request for remark.
As beforehand reported, Abdul’s lawsuit was filed beneath California’s Sexual Abuse and Cowl Up Accountability Act, which permits survivors of sexual assault to sue past the standard statute of limitations.
