The Game took another loss in his ongoing legal battle with Priscilla Rainey, who sued the rapper for sexual assault.
The United States Court of Appeals has rejected the Game's request for a new trial, meaning he is still required to pay Rainey $7.1 million in damages. The court announced the decision Thursday, more than four years after the plaintiff filed the civil suit as TMZ points out.
The complaint states the sexual assault occurred in 2015, when Rainey was a contestant on the Game's VH1 reality show She's Got Game. Rainey said she had agreed to meet the rapper at a Chicago sports bar for a date, but was unaware that it would be off-camera. According to the lawsuit, the Game—legal name Jayceon Terrell Taylor— showed up to the restaurant "highly intoxicated on alcohol and drugs (which was typical), and sexually assaulted plaintiff on several occasions that night. This included him forcefully reaching his hand inside her dress to rub her bare vagina and buttocks."
Rainey won her case in 2016 and was awarded $7.1 million after the Game failed to appear in court. The fact that the rapper was a no-show for the initial hearings was a big factor in the appeals court's decision. Circuit Judge Diane Sykes also pointed to the Game's online attacks against Rainey, who he accused of simply being bitter over her elimination from the show.
"Taylor did not take the litigation seriously," Sykes wrote in a 19-page opinion. "He evaded process, trolled Rainey on social media, dodged a settlement conference, and did not bother to show up at trial. His attorney asked for a continuance, but the judge denied that request, dismissing Taylor’s proffered excuse as an elaborate ruse."
During How The West Was Won concert at the FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine, California on Oct. 19, The Game addressed how he felt about the court's decision.
“Everybody got something to say, this that. I don’t give a fuck about none of that. I’ve been in the game my whole career, I ain’t deterred, I’m me!” The Game said. “Today I read on the internet, n***a they say I lost seven million, shit! What I’mma do now, is Popeyes hiring? Seven million... he must be broke!”
