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Kesha won’t be able to claw back her legal fees from Dr. Luke if she wins the defamation suit her former music producer brought against her, an appellate court ruled Thursday.
Dr. Luke — whose real name is Lukasz Gottwald — appealed a ruling in July that allowed the “Tik Tok” singer to apply a recently strengthened free speech law in New York to seek the cost of her lawyer’s fees from Dr. Luke if he loses his case against her.
However, a judge said Thursday that when the legislature in 2020 amended the law, it “did not specify that the new legislation was to be applied retroactively” — and therefore, it couldn’t be used by the pop star.
The law was passed in November 2020 to help curb nuisance lawsuits brought by the rich and powerful who seek to intimidate and silence accusers by forcing the plaintiff to pay for the legal costs if their suit is tossed.
Dr. Luke sued Kesha in 2014 alleging that she defamed him when she publicly accused him of drugging and raping her and accused him of also raping Katy Perry.
A judge previously ruled that Kesha defamed Luke with her claims about Perry, after the “California Gurls” singer denied in a deposition that she was ever raped by Luke.
Lawyers on both sides didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
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