Garth Brooks is seeking compensatory and punitive damages from his sexual assault accuser, claiming he is the “victim of a shakedown.”
Brooks, 62, filed a complaint on Tuesday, October 8, with the District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi Northern Division. In the documents, which were obtained by Us Weekly, the country star claimed that his accuser leaked his name while he was waiting for a judge to sign off on his own filing in which he would use a pseudonym for both parties.
“When Jane Roe threatened to publish lies about him — intending to blackmail Plaintiff into paying her millions of dollars — Plaintiff filed this lawsuit to preserve his reputation, establish the truth, and put a stop to her scheme,” Brooks, as “John Doe,” claimed in his reply. “For the sake of his family, and out of respect for Roe’s family as well, Plaintiff titled this action ‘John Doe vs. Jane Roe.’”
The document alleged that his accuser only gave the court “fewer than 48 hours after filing her opposition before publicly leaking Plaintiff’s identity to the press.”
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Brooks’ legal team claimed that Jane Doe’s attorneys confirmed the country singer’s identity while his case was still under review. “Her defiance of this court’s authority was intentional,” Brooks alleged.
As a result, Brooks’ attorneys said his pseudonym filing was “moot” and he would refile his complaint using both of their names.
In a secondary filing submitted on Tuesday, Brooks identified himself and his accuser by name, claiming that she accused him of sexual assault after he would not agree to her “demands for salaried employment and medical benefits.”
Brooks claimed that his accuser “threatened” in a July 17 letter to “publicly file” her “fabricated allegations” unless he “agreed to pay Defendant millions of dollars not to file the suit.” (Her letter allegedly came as a result of “ financial difficulties” she incurred when she relocated to Mississippi, according to Brooks’ filing.)
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In an alleged follow-up letter, the accuser “offered to refrain from publicly filing her false and defamatory lawsuit against Plaintiff in exchange for a multi-million dollar payment,” per the documents.
Brooks maintained that the “allegations are not true” and is requesting “a declaratory judgment that Defendant’s allegations against him of sexual misconduct are untrue.”
The musician also asked the judge to award him “compensatory damages proximately caused by Defendant’s intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, and false light invasion of privacy, including incidental and consequential damages” as well as “punitive damages in an amount sufficient to deter similar future behavior.”
The legal team for the accuser responded to Brooks’ new filings in a statement to Us on Tuesday. “Garth Brooks just revealed his true self. 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,” Douglas H. Wigdor, Jeanne M. Christensen and Hayley Baker said.
Brooks’ dual filing came less than one week after he was accused of sexual assault and battery by a former hair and makeup artist. The Thursday, October 3, complaint alleged that Brooks raped the unnamed accuser in 2019 while she was working for him.
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The accuser also alleged that Brooks exposed himself to her after getting out of the shower and proposed “having a threesome” with him and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, whom she also worked for in the past.
Brooks, who has denied there’s any validity to the accusations, broke his silence over the scandal that same day.
“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. It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face,” Brooks said in a statement to Us on Thursday.
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He continued, “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.”
Brooks explained, “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.” Since the scandal broke, Brooks has continued to tour and perform.
Yearwood hasn’t publicly commented on her husband’s legal troubles, but a source who recently worked with Garth exclusively told Us on Saturday, October 5, “Everyone around him including Trisha and his daughters believe him to be telling the truth.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
