Judge tosses out Dawn Richard's lawsuit against Sean 'Diddy' Combs

Sean "Diddy" Combs performs during the MTV Video Music Awards, Sept. 12, 2023, in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK — A federal judge has tossed out singer Dawn Richard’s lawsuit against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, saying most of her claims of emotional and physical abuse, including groping, were not filed in the required year after the described events.

Judge Katherine Polk Failla in a ruling dated Friday and released publicly on Monday said Richard can refile her claims in state court on one allegation against the hip-hop impresario but cannot refile claims that have missed the deadline by which a lawsuit must be filed under New York law by over a decade.

The judge flexed her vocabulary in writing that the court ruling “exists independently of its disapprobation of the factual allegations, which, if true, are execrable.” In lay terms, that means the court’s ruling is not based on whether the judge approves or disapproves of what Comb’s is accused of.

Arick Fudali, a lawyer for Richard, said the singer will refile her primary claim in state court under the gender-motivated violence act.

“We certainly agree with the Judge that the allegations in this case are execrable,” Fudali said in a statement sent by email, repeating “execrable,” which means extremely bad. “We intend to continue to fight for Dawn until justice is achieved.”

Lawyers for Combs did not immediately return requests for comment. When the lawsuit was filed in September 2024, his representatives said Combs was “shocked and disappointed” by the lawsuit and questioned why Richard would work with him so long if he were so bad.

Richard, a singer in the Bad Boy Records groups Danity Kane and Diddy — Dirty Money from 2004 to 2012, testified at last year’s New York trial where Combs was convicted on prostitution-related charges but was acquitted of more serious sex trafficking charges.

She told the jury in Manhattan federal court that she saw Combs beat his girlfriend in 2009 and that Combs later threatened her to remain silent about what she witnessed.

In her lawsuit, Richard alleged that during her eight-year association with Combs, she suffered abuse, manipulation and violence and was subjected to Combs routinely using disparaging language to describe women.

According to the lawsuit, Combs regularly deprived Richard and her bandmates of food and sleep and made her feel embarrassed and powerless when he angrily responded to her request that he clothe himself when he held meetings in his underwear.

The lawsuit also alleged that Richard was regularly subjected to drug-fuelled parties where Combs and his friends would perform sexual acts on incapacitated young women.

She claimed Combs regularly exploded in rage, hurling cellular phones, laptops, food and studio equipment. At other times, the lawsuit said, Richard witnessed him choking and strangling his protege and longtime girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.

Ventura testified for several days at the trial that resulted in a four-year, two-month prison sentence for Combs.

Michael R. Sisak And Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press