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A judge elaborated on his decision to dismiss the majority of former Making the Band member Sara Rivers’ $60 million lawsuit against Sean Combs, saying her allegations were well outside the statute of limitations.
In an opinion filed by U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Tuesday night, the judge went through each of Rivers’ 22 causes of motion and the accompanying timeframes a claim must be brought.“The vast majority of the conduct … took place over twenty years ago, whereas the most generous limitations period applicable to any of Rivers’ claims is ten years,” the judge wrote.
In a 148-page lawsuit filed in February, Rivers alleged she endured “inhumane” working conditions and wasn’t compensated adequately during the filming of the popular MTV reality show between 2002 and 2004. She also alleged that Combs blackballed her from the music industry, ruining a once-promising career after he dismantled their group on the show.
Although Rivers said a fear of retaliation kept her from coming forward and filing her lawsuit sooner, Judge Rakoff noted her “general claims of psychological stress cannot give rise” to being so outside the limitations.
“It is important to remember the many positive purposes served by statutes of limitations,” Rakoff added. “They promote justice by preventing surprises through plaintiffs’ revival of claims that have been allowed to slumber until evidence has been lost, memories have faded, and witnesses have disappeared.”
Still, Rivers’ case is active with one cause of action remaining. Filed under the New York City’s Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act (GMVPA), Rivers alleged that Combs sexually harassed her and once groped her while she was working with Bad Boy.
Rakoff noted “the Court reserves judgment as to whether dismissal of Count Fifteen should be with or without prejudice” — meaning if Rivers will be allowed to refile her case just focusing on the GMVPA claim. The judge is now staying further proceedings in the case until an appeals court issues its own decision on whether cases filed under the act can proceed if they were filed after the window for New York’s Adult Survivors Act had closed.
Last week, Combs’ team welcomed the judge’s decision. “From the outset, we have said these claims were meritless, time-barred, and legally deficient. The court agreed, finding no legal basis to allow them to proceed,” Combs’ civil lawyer Erica Wolff said in a statement. “We are pleased the court carefully analyzed and swiftly dismissed these baseless claims.”
But Rivers is not deterred. “The most serious and personal claim, sexual assault, remains very much alive,” Rivers posted on her Instagram account last week. “This fight was never about headlines. It’s about truth, accountability, and justice for me, and for every other survivor that has been told that they should just give up. I will not be silenced and I will not be intimidated, and I will see this thing through.”
