JACKSON, Miss. — A motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by country music star Garth Brooks against his former hairdresser has been rendered moot by a federal judge. Brooks initiated the lawsuit in September 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi to prevent the woman from disclosing allegations of rape and sexual assault that she claims occurred years prior.
The woman, referred to only as Jane Roe, subsequently lodged her own complaint in California. This document includes her accusations against Brooks and was shifted to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in November 2022. Roe filed a motion to dismiss the Mississippi lawsuit in the same month, and on May 1, Judge Henry Wingate declared the motion moot, suggesting that the case is effectively concluded.
In legal terms, a motion can be deemed moot if it is no longer relevant, which could signal an end to Brooks’ initial suit. However, it remains uncertain how this ruling will affect the ongoing California case, which has been put on hold while awaiting the outcome of the Mississippi matter. Court records indicate that Brooks was ordered to update the California court on any significant decisions in the Mississippi lawsuit within ten days of those rulings. As of the latest updates, there were no indications that such notifications had taken place.
Brooks had also sought to dismiss the California complaint, asserting that Roe’s claims should be addressed in Mississippi, where the case originated. He argued that her allegations were compulsory counterclaims directly related to the facts at play in the Mississippi case. He sought either the dismissal of Roe’s claims with permission to refile them in Mississippi or a stay of the California proceedings until the Mississippi case was resolved.
Brooks’s legal strategy focused on preventing Roe from making allegations publicly, insisting that her claims were untrue and motivated by financial gain after he declined to provide her with a salaried position with benefits. In contrast, Roe maintains that Brooks’s lawsuit serves as a tactic to silence her. According to her attorneys, the two had engaged in settlement discussions prior to the filing of the Mississippi suit, and Brooks only proceeded with his legal action after failing to reach a settlement agreement.
Roe’s complaint details serious accusations, including an alleged incident where Brooks approached her while naked and forced her to touch him. She also claims that during a trip to Los Angeles for a Grammy program, Brooks booked a hotel suite with one bed for both of them, during which he allegedly raped her.
Brooks has characterized the lawsuit as an extortion attempt, asserting that Roe, once a trusted member of his team, orchestrated a scheme to extort millions from him following his refusal to fulfill her employment requests. He emphasized that both legal actions are interconnected, arguing against the necessity of conducting concurrent discovery in both jurisdictions, which would only complicate legal proceedings.
Initially, Brooks sought a range of tort claims, monetary damages, and declaratory relief. However, an amended complaint filed in November 2022 limited his pursuit to damages.
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