Tyrone Blackburn, a lawyer representing several plaintiffs who’ve sued Sean “Diddy” Combs, requested more time to serve the mogul’s son Justin Combs with legal papers on Monday (September 9). According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, Blackburn claimed Diddy’s legal team engaged in deceptive tactics to get Justin Combs dismissed from Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones’ bombshell lawsuit.
Blackburn said he spoke with Diddy’s longtime attorney Jonathan Davis in May. Davis allegedly agreed to wave service for his clients, including Diddy and Justin Combs, in Lil Rod’s lawsuit. Blackburn revealed he “foolishly relied on [Davis’] word and stopped [his] process server from attempting to serve Justin and Sean Combs.”
“On or about July 11, 2024, I received an email and call from Erica Wolff, who informed me that she would represent the ‘Combs Defendants’ in the cases I filed against Mr. Combs in New York and New Jersey,” Blackburn wrote. “She requested additional time to answer or move in all of the cases. I granted her request. On or about August 26, 2024, Ms. [Wolff] filed a motion to dismiss Mr. Jones’ case but conveniently left out Justin Combs as one of the ‘Combs Defendants.’”
Blackburn believed Diddy’s legal team was trying to “run out the clock” to prevent Justin Combs from being served within 120 days of Lil Rod filing his lawsuit. The court would dismiss the action without prejudice unless Lil Rod showed good cause for failing to serve Justin Combs.
“This is a clear game that [Sean] Combs and his ever-evolving legal team have implemented in an effort to have Justin Combs dismissed from this case due to lack of service of process,” Blackburn contended. “This is the same game that Jonathan Davis and Sean Combs’s former counsel, Shawn [Holley], recently implemented in California in another lawsuit this writer filed against Sean Combs and his other son Christian Combs.”
He continued, “Shawn [Holley] represented to my co-counsel, Rodney Diggs, that she represented Christian Combs. A week or two later, she was terminated, and Jonathan Davis represented that he was counsel for Christian and Sean Combs. Recently, Mr. Davis informed Mr. Diggs that he would only accept service of process for Sean Combs. As a result, we now must request leave of Court in California to perfect the service of Christian Combs. This is not a coincidence. Sean Combs and his counsels clearly plan to misuse and abuse the collegial conversations and agreements counsels have with each other to obtain an unfair advantage.”
Blackburn asked for a 60-day extension to serve Justin Combs in Lil Rod’s case. Lil Rod accused Diddy of sexual assault, trafficking and operating a RICO enterprise, among other allegations.