Sony Music Must Hand over Internal List over Kesha Sex Abuse Claims

As the now four-and-a-half-year-long legal dispute between Kesha and her former music producer Dr. Luke continues in New York court, a state appeals panel has decided that the pop singer can compel Sony Music Entertainment to identify people interviewed in its internal investigation that examined Kesha's claims of sexual misconduct by the producer. Gottwald v. Sebert, 653118/14. The decision by the New York Appellate Division, First Department, affirms a 2018 lower court ruling that allowed Kesha's motion to compel against non-party Sony Music Entertainment.

The appellate court turned back Sony's arguments that handing over the interview lists would violate certain privileges, including attorney-client privilege between Sony and its outside counsel from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. “Although Sony's outside counsel stated that he prepared the interview lists for Sony's defense of Kesha's allegations, there was no legal advice, no legal recommendations or attorney thought processes revealed in the interview lists,” the appellate division wrote.

The appellate court added: “Nor do they [the interview lists] appear to have been solely or primarily prepared for preparation of Sony's defense to Kesha's counterclaims against it.”

The legal warfare between Kesha and her former producer Lukasz Gottwald — also was known as Dr. Luke — has spanned multiple jurisdictions, from California to New York, and has included a number of claims and counterclaims. In Manhattan Supreme Court, Gottwald filed a lawsuit in 2014 alleging that Kesha breached an exclusive recording agreement and also defamed him by accusing him of abuse.

Kesha later filed counterclaims alleging that Gottwald sexually assaulted her and discriminated against her over a number of years.

In 2016, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich dismissed the sexual assault and discrimination counterclaims by Kesha, whose full name is Kesha Rose Sebert.

Kesha was first signed in 2005 to Dr. Luke's Kemosabe Records, a subsidiary of Sony. The singer has been trying for years to be released from the record label contracts as Dr. Luke has sued her for breach. Kesha also filed suit in California but later dropped the action.

The New York Appellate Division's opinion affirmed a 2018 decision on the motion to compel rendered by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter. The appellate court also affirmed a decision by Justice Schecter to allow Gottwald leave to amend a second amended complaint to include allegations related to Kesha's agents for disseminating allegedly defamatory statements. Kesha is represented by O'Melveny & Myers.

Gottwald is represented by Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp.

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Jason Grant is a New York-based litigation reporter for Entertainment Law & Finance's ALM sibling New York Law Journal and Law.com, and a former practicing attorney in Manhattan. Contact Jason at [email protected] and on Twitter @JasonBarrGrant.