Garth Brooks has filed to dismiss the sexual assault and battery lawsuit against him.
Brooks, 62, filed a new motion late on Friday, November 8 obtained by Deadline, requesting a hearing to officially close the legal battle. He previously asked for the case to transfer from Mississippi to federal court. The hearing is requested for December 9.
“Indeed, a few days after Brooks’ counsel reached out to Roe’s counsel to meet and confer about this Motion to Dismiss, Roe filed a motion in the Southern District of Mississippi that asked the court there to transfer the Mississippi Action to this Court because, according to Roe, Brooks’ tort claims against Roe are compulsory counterclaims that arise from the same operative facts,” the court documents read.
Roe, an anonymous hairstylist who accused Brooks of assault, has not responded to his legal filing. One of her attorneys, Jeanne M. Christensen, however, told Deadline, “This is just more of the same bullying and intimidation Garth Brooks has used from the moment he learned our client intended to hold him accountable. We look forward to getting before a jury and reaching the merits of this case.”
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According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, a woman identified as “Jane Roe” filed a lawsuit against the country singer, on October 3, claiming that Brooks raped her during a 2019 work trip to Los Angeles. Roe further claimed that Brooks sent her sexually explicit text messages and repeatedly exposed his genitals to her.
Roe began working for Brooks in 2017 after previously being hired to do hair and makeup for his now-wife, Trisha Yearwood, in 1999, according to the lawsuit.
Prior to Roe’s complaint, Brooks denied the allegations in an anonymous filing meant to block Roe from sharing her claims publicly.
“Defendant’s allegations are not true,” the filing claimed. “Defendant is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit.”
Roe’s attorneys fired back at Brooks in a statement to Us, calling his “efforts to silence” their client “nothing other than an act of desperation and attempted intimidation.”
“We are confident that Brooks will be held accountable for his actions,” the statement from attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor, Jeanne M. Christensen and Hayley Baker continued. “We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks. The complaint filed today demonstrates that sexual predators exist not only in corporate America, Hollywood and in the rap and rock and roll industries, but also in the world of country music.”
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Brooks subsequently broke his silence on the allegations.
“For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars,” he told Us in an October 3 statement. “It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face.”
“Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of — ugly acts no human should ever do to another,” he continued. “We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides.”
“I want to play music tonight,” the country star concluded. “I want to continue our good deeds going forward. It breaks my heart [that] these wonderful things are in question now. I trust the system, I do not fear the truth, and I am not the man they have painted me to be.”
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Later that month, Brooks filed a complaint against his accuser, claiming he was the “victim of a shakedown” and seeking compensatory and punitive damages. In the October 8 filing, Brooks claimed that his accuser “threatened” in a July letter to “publicly file” her “fabricated allegations” unless he “agreed to pay Defendant millions of dollars not to file the suit.” In an alleged follow-up letter, she “offered to refrain from publicly filing her false and defamatory lawsuit against Plaintiff in exchange for a multi-million dollar payment,” according to the documents.
Brooks alleged that his accuser leaked his name to the public and accused him of sexual assault after he would not agree to her “demands for salaried employment and medical benefits.” He responded by filing a secondary suit that listed his accuser’s real name rather than “Jane Roe.”
Roe’s attorneys reacted to Brooks’ filing in an October 8 statement to Us. “Garth Brooks just revealed his true self,” the legal team said. “Out of spite and to punish, he publicly named a rape victim. With no legal justification, Brooks outed her because he thinks the laws don’t apply to him. On behalf of our client, we will be moving for maximum sanctions against him immediately.”
Amid the ordeal, a source exclusively told Us in October that Yearwood, 60, “completely believes Garth and has complete faith that the allegations are false,” adding that his wife of 18 years is “supporting him 100 percent.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
