Smokey Robinson’s lawyer plans to ask the court docket to dismiss a lawsuit filed this week in opposition to the singer by 4 former staff. The ladies are searching for not less than $50 million, accusing Robinson of repeated sexual misconduct and alleging he and his spouse, Frances, violated labor legal guidelines.
“We will have more to say in the coming days as we make our legal response, and in time Mr. Robinson will respond in his own words,” lawyer Christopher Frost mentioned in a Wednesday assertion to The Instances. “As this case progresses, the evidence (the crucial element that guides us) will show that this is simply an ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon — $50 million dollars, to be exact.”
Frost, a founding companion of Frost LLP, known as the allegations “vile” and “false” and mentioned “numerous aspects of the complaint … defy credulity.” The authorized response searching for dismissal will handle “issues relating to purported timelines, inconsistencies, and relationships between the plaintiffs and others,” he mentioned.
“We ask anyone following this case to reserve judgment as the evidence comes to light and all the actual facts of the case unfold,” Frost mentioned.
The civil go well with, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom, accuses the Robinsons of negligence, sexual battery and sexual assault, false imprisonment, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional misery, gender violence, and hostile work surroundings, along with a number of labor violations associated to wages, breaks, meal intervals, and vacation and additional time pay.
“I am appalled,” Smokey Robinson advised the Every day Mail in a telephone name Wednesday earlier than reportedly devolving into mumbles about being contacted at residence. “I can’t speak about this right now,” he added.
The ladies are suing below the pseudonyms Jane Doe 1 via 4 due to the sexual misconduct allegations, together with rape, which are leveled in opposition to the lead singer of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the lawsuit says. Three are former housekeepers and one was the singer’s private assistant, prepare dinner and hairdresser, per court docket paperwork reviewed by The Instances.
Jane Doe 1 labored for the Robinsons from January 2023 till February 2024. Jane Doe 2 labored from Could 2014 to February 2020. Jane Doe 3 labored from February 2012 to April 2024. Jane Doe 4 labored from October 2006 to April 2024.
All 4 girls allege within the lawsuit that he “summoned” them to numerous locations at his houses in Chatsworth, Ventura County’s Bell Canyon and Las Vegas when his spouse wasn’t round. Typically rising bare from a bathe, he compelled them to have varied sorts of intercourse with them — vaginal, oral and digital — over a variety of years, the lawsuit says.
They accuse Frances Robinson, who married Smokey in 2002, of “regularly screaming … in a hostile manner, using ethnically pejorative words and language” towards them. They are saying within the paperwork that she knew what her husband was doing and did not rein him in.
One plaintiff mentioned she didn’t wish to report the alleged actions as a result of she was afraid of dropping her job and being publicly shamed. She additionally nervous about her immigration standing and threats and intimidation attributable to Robinson’s movie star standing and “influential friends and associates,” the lawsuit says. These sentiments, with or with out the immigration difficulty, had been echoed by the opposite plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs say within the lawsuit that they stop due to the alleged sexual misconduct and hostile work surroundings.
All 4 say within the criticism that they labored 10 hours a day, six days every week for the Robinsons however weren’t paid minimal wage or additional time. Additionally they labored holidays with out receiving a vacation fee, the lawsuit says. The housekeepers made between $10 and $18 an hour whereas the assistant made $15 an hour earlier than getting a elevate to $20 an hour.
Minimal wage in California was $6.75 per hour in 2006 and elevated progressively over time. In 2024, it was $16 per hour for these not working for big fast-food chains. In Los Angeles County in July 2024, the minimal wage was $17.27 per hour, whereas the minimal in Las Vegas was $12 per hour.
“We will have more to say on this matter,” lawyer Frost mentioned in his assertion, “as we fiercely defend our clients against these false allegations and work to protect their good names.”
