Sabrina Peterson’s new legal team contested a motion filed by T.I. and his wife Tiny Harris, who accused Peterson of violating a court order. T.I. and Tiny asked a judge to throw out Peterson’s defamation lawsuit after she refused to pay them a court-ordered $96,000. Peterson’s lawyers called the couple’s motion a “deliberate attempt to divert attention from the core issues in the case.”
“Harris’ motion’s sole purpose was to generate media attention, drawing comparisons to public humiliation strategies used by high-profile figures like Harvey Weinstein and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who sought to silence and shame their victims by weaponizing the press,” Peterson’s lawyers said.
An appeals court dismissed several claims in Peterson’s defamation case against T.I. and Tiny in 2023. The claims included trade libel, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and intentional and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.
The court allowed Peterson to proceed with defamation and false light invasion of privacy claims. Her legal team said there was no precedent behind T.I. and Tiny’s bid to terminate sanctions over Peterson’s nonpayment.
“As for their talk of sanctions? Wack,” Peterson’s lawyer Kasra Parsad said in a statement to AllHipHop. “Has any media outlet actually read the Harris’ motion? Did they realize they failed to point to a single statute or case to back up their request for anything beyond judgement enforcement? Did any journalist ask why? Answer: because no such authority exists.”
Attorney Allison Margolin added, “Ms. Peterson is determined to bring the facts to a jury, not to let the Harris Defendants sway the public through media spectacles.”
A hearing for the motion will be held at the Los Angeles Superior Court on October 10. The defamation case is scheduled to go trial on December 10.