The singer Kesha broke down in tears on Friday when she lost her legal battle against both Dr Luke and Sony records.
The 28-year-old has been fighting her producer and record label for the last three years and was inconsolable when her request for a preliminary injunction – which would have given her a temporary break from her contract – was denied by a judge in Manhattan Supreme Court, the Mirror reports.
The singer has accused her producer Dr Luke – real name Luke Gottwald – of raping her when she was 18-year-old, and she wants to nullify her six album deal with Sony Records. However a judge turned down the request claiming it would undermine the state’s laws governing contracts.
Her legal battle has left the singer devastated, after the judge handed down the ruling she left the court in floods of tears alongside her family.
Kesha filed her lawsuit against Dr Luke in October 2014, but the pair’s relationship had broken down long before then after she implied she had less creative control over her second album Warrior in 2012.
In October 2014 Kesha took legal action against Gottwald, suing him and claiming sexual assault and battery, sexual harassment, gender violence, civil harassment, violation of California’s unfair business laws, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and negligent retention and supervision.
Gottwald denies the allegations and responded by filing a counter suit alleging that Kesha’s lawsuit was an attempt by the singer, her mother, and new management firm to force him into releasing her from her contract
Kesha’s lawyer, Mark Geragos claimed:
This lawsuit is a wholehearted effort by Kesha to regain control of her music career and her personal freedom after suffering for ten years as a victim of mental manipulation, emotional abuse and an instance of sexual assault at the hands of Dr. Luke.
In her lawsuit, Kesha alleges that she was forced to use drugs and alcohol, and found herself in situations where she had no memory. As well as the instance of sexual abuse, there was also physical abuse and on one incident he was ‘violently thrashing his arms at her’.
However Gottwald’s lawyers pointed to a 2011 deposition in which Kesha stated that she had not had a sexual relationship with her producer Lukasz ‘Dr Luke’ Gottwald and that he did not give her ‘cocaine or a roofie’.
The deposition taken in 2011 was previously sealed, but was released by the judge to be used in the case at the request of Dr Luke’s lawyer, Christine Lepera. In the deposition, Kesha swears that Dr Luke did not give her a drug that knocked her out.
After her loss Kesha’s supporters took to Twitter to make their outrage clear.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.