Rapper T.I. and his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris have been awarded nearly $100,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs from a woman who sued them, but who saw most of the claims she filed against the hip hop couple dismissed on appeal.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anne Richardson granted the couple $96,700 after the parties chose not to challenge the tentative ruling she issued Monday in plaintiff Sabrina Peterson’s case. The Harris couple had sought $165,000.
In earlier court papers, Peterson’s lawyer stated the defendants’ attorneys’ fees request should be denied. They cited an alleged failure of the Harris attorneys to provide an itemized list of the legal work completed according to a court order. In the alternative, the amount of the fees should have been reduced and aligned with the amount of money awarded in this district for similar anti-SLAPP cases, Peterson’s lawyer further stated in his court papers.
The judge’s finalized decision came a day after the Harris lawyers filed court papers maintaining Peterson’s remaining two claims for defamation and false light invasion of privacy should also be tossed.
“Plaintiff’s claims are barred because the alleged defamatory statements attributed to defendants are true and/or substantially true,” the couple’s lawyers argue in their court papers.
The defense attorneys further maintain that their clients’ statements were opinions, that they harbored no malice toward Peterson and that the Harris couple should be awarded additional attorneys’ fees.
In September 2021, now-retired Judge David Sotelo denied anti-SLAPP motions brought by the Harrises and hairstylist Shekina Jones Anderson regarding plaintiff Sabrina Peterson’s lawsuit. The state’s anti-SLAPP — Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation — law is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
The judge found that Peterson had shown a “probability of prevailing” on her claims against the couple and Anderson for not only defamation per se and defamation trade libel, but also for invasion of privacy, intentional and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
But on June 2, a three-justice panel of the Second District Court of appeal unanimously ruled that Peterson’s claims for trade libel, intentional and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage and intentional infliction of emotional distress should be stricken. Justice Audra Mori, who wrote the opinion, also said the Harrises were entitled to attorney’s fees.
Peterson filed suit in March 2021. In an Instagram post two months earlier, Peterson accused the 43-year-old T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, of putting a gun to her head. She also shared statements from over 30 women who claimed they had allegedly been drugged or forced into sex by the Harrises.
The Harrises denied the gun accusation in an official statement and both issued responses on Instagram as well. Tameka Harris, 48, posted a photo of Peterson’s 8-year-old son and told Peterson to stop harassing her family and seek help, while T.I. posted an eight-minute video denying the allegations.
Anderson has appeared on the Harris couple’s reality show, “T.I. & Tiny,” as well as other programs. The suit alleges that Anderson made a defamatory Instagram post late in January 2021 in which she claimed Peterson was engaged in sexual acts with T.I. and Tiny.
Peterson says she offered to dismiss her lawsuit in return for an apology and an admission by the Harris couple of the falsity of their remarks.