A former personal assistant to Soulja Boy who alleges she was sexually abused by the rapper won a round in court Thursday when a judge rejected a bid by the 34-year-old “Crank That” singer to reopen discovery just weeks before the scheduled start of trial.
On Thursday, Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Mark H. Epstein denied a motion by the singer’s attorneys to permit the recommencing of discovery to, among other things, conduct an independent medical exam of the plaintiff. Trial is scheduled Jan. 27.
“The court cannot say that defendant has been diligent; precisely the opposite,” the judge wrote. “Defendant cannot postpone the trial again and defendant cannot force plaintiff to bear the brunt of defendant’s own poor litigation choices.”
The plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe and the singer’s real name is DeAndre Cortez Way. In her suit filed in January 2021, Doe says she was hired by Way in December 2018. Her duties included cooking and bringing food and snacks, carrying personal belongings or luggage, styling Way’s hair, driving him and handling travel plans, the suit states.
Way paid the plaintiff $500 weekly for her services and she lived and worked seven days a week, 20 hours daily, at his homes in Malibu and Bell Canyon, the suit states.
The two became romantically involved, but from January 2019 to December 2020 he sexually abused her and did not pay her overtime while also committing other wage and hour violations, her suit alleges.
In his ruling, Epstein said that in addition to the psychological exam of Doe, the rapper’s attorneys wanted to take the depositions of eight witnesses, some of them Doe’s doctors.
“The court cannot say that the discovery, were it timely, would be improper,” Epstein said. “The problem is the timeliness.”
The entertainer did engage in some discovery while represented by prior counsel, but the two parted company and Soulja Boy “fell off the proverbial grid,” the judge wrote.
While the performer contends he lost track of the litigation and was unaware of Doe’s discovery efforts, he nonetheless knew he was being sued, according to Epstein.
“Nothing stopped him from retaining new counsel or representing himself and taking discovery,” Epstein said. “But he did nothing.”
Soulja Boy eventually hired a new lawyer, but the motion to reopen discovery was not filed until December, the judge said.
”While it is true that (Soulja Boy) chose to be unrepresented for a long time, that is not plaintiff’s fault nor is it an excuse,” according to Epstein.