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Kesha seeks to keep medical records confidential in ongoing Dr Luke litigation

By | Published on Tuesday 11 October 2016

Kesha

While many elements of Kesha’s multi-layered legal battle with producer Dr Luke have now been dismissed, voluntarily or by the courts, litigation is still ongoing in New York, and now lawyers for the singer have asked a judge to ensure medical records shared as part of the legal proceedings are not made public.

As much previously reported, Kesha Sebert accuses her long-time musical collaborator Lukasz Gottwald of plying her with drugs and alcohol and raping her as a teenager. He denies all of those allegations, and has sued both the singer and her mother for defamation, saying that the accusations were invented in a bid to force his hand in a contractual dispute. It’s the contractual dispute that continues.

In a recent court filing, Sebert’s lawyers say that she shared various medical records with Gottwald’s team as part of the legal battle, but that his lawyers are now refusing to commit to keep those documents confidential. So the singer’s team want the judge overseeing the case to issue a protective order to prevent any information in those medical papers from ever being made public.

Sebert’s attorney James Pearl wrote in his court filing that his client “has disclosed highly sensitive personal medical records as part of this litigation, and her position as a world-renowned recording artist in whom there is great public interest renders any potential disclosure of those records potentially harmful to her personal and economic interests”.

The lawyer goes on: “Ms Sebert now fears that Gottwald will seek to disclose and disseminate her personal medical records in an attempt to embarrass and harass her”.

Reps for Gottwald seemingly argue that Kesha waived her right to privacy on these issues by publicly disclosing her “alleged medical diagnoses” and making them part of this legal dispute. But nevetheless, in a statement to Buzzfeed, the producer’s lawyers say that they believe it is for the court to decide on what can and can’t be made public.

Says lawyer Christine Lepara: “Because Kesha made public accusations and in the case that she was allegedly harmed by Dr Luke, the court ordered her to produce her medical records. Now Kesha wants to hide her records while continuing to make self-serving, selective and misleading statements to hurt my clients publicly. Our position is that the court – and not Kesha’s lawyers – should decide whether Kesha’s medical information remains confidential given her public disclosures”.

The dispute over the medical records will be considered by the judge later this month.



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