A $450,000 civil judgment against Sean "P.
Diddy" Combs was overturned yesterday in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Limousine driver Cedrick Bobby Lemon filed a
lawsuit against Combs in relation to an incident in 1995. Lemon claimed he was
assaulted by bodyguards Combs had hired to protect Mary J. Blige at a concert
in Winston-Salem.
Lemon claimed he had an ID badge that allowed
him to remain in the backstage area, when people were asked to clear the area
during the show.
However a melee ensued and Lemon said he was
punched in the head, back and suffered a broken right wrist.
He said he lost his job and eventually was financially
strained for money as a result of the alleged assault. Lemon was originally
awarded $2,000,000 in punitive damages, which was reduced to $450,000 in August
of 2003 until yesterday’s ruling to overturn the decision.
"I’ll just keep on spending money in court
to fight these outright attempts of extortion," Diddy said in 2003, after
being hit with a barrage of new lawsuits. "They won’t succeed."
