A Los Angeles judge believes Jay-Z's defamation claim against lawyer Tony Buzbee could proceed to trial.
According to Rolling Stone, Judge Mark H. Epstein delivered a tentative ruling on Tuesday, pointing to Buzbee's social media activity in Nov. 2024 as possible grounds to sue for defamation. The attorney referred to Jane Doe in a post as a "sexual assault survivor" before liking someone's response speculating that Jay-Z was the John Doe described in the lawsuit the following day.
"When someone says Doe is Carter, and [Buzbee] 'likes' it, it's not unreasonable to infer that [Buzbee] has just affirmed that he's right, that Doe is Carter," Epstein said.
The judge expressed concerns about the timeline that led to the lawsuit involving Jay-Z. Buzbee said a lawsuit and the names of those in the suit would not be made public until a full investigation is complete. However, the judge also said that Jay's separate extortion claim likely wouldn't stand up in trial.
"Not having done the investigation we’d all like one to do is not going to be enough to show actual malice, I know that. The concern I have is juxtaposing that with Mr. Buzbee’s statements that he was not going to bring a lawsuit until he had done a full investigation," Epstein said. "I agree this is the hardest question of the case, the ‘actual malice’ question."
The judge continued, "If you say, 'I'm not going to name names until I've done real investigating,' and then you name a name, isn't the implication that you did conduct a real investigation? And if you didn’t, is it okay? Is actual malice still not satisfied when I’m telling the public, ‘I did a real investigation and this guy engaged in child rape,’ and actually, I didn’t?"
While Epstein is leaning towards dismissing the extortion claim against Buzbee, the next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 26.
Speaking of lawyers, earlier this week, ASAP Rocky's attorney, Joe Tacopina said he declined Diddy's case because of his allegiance to Jay-Z amid their rift. Tacopina said he considers Roc Nation to be family to him, adding Jay-Z and Diddy do not see eye-to-eye.