A judge has reversed a late June ruling and reinstated Kevin Hart’s defamation suit against a former personal assistant that dealt with the aide’s remarks during an online interview.
On Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly J. Fujie restored to the court calendar Hart’s remaining claims against the ex-assistant, Miesha Shakes, which in addition to defamation were for invasion of privacy and breach of contract.
In dismissing the case “without prejudice” on June 26, the judge noted that no declaration was filed as to why the case should not be dismissed. However, Hart’s attorney, Stacey N. Knox, subsequently filed court papers establishing she had indeed filed a declaration on April 3.
In a separate ruling in June, the judge granted Shakes’ attorney’s motion to withdraw her representation as Shakes’ defense attorney.
Hart’s suit, originally filed in December 2023 and amended a month later, involves a social media conversation between Shakes and Latasha Transrina Kebe, who also is known as Tasha K.
In their court papers, attorneys the 46-year-old Hart maintain their client and his company, K. Hart Enterprises Inc., suffered “irreparable harm from the continued publication and broadcasting of the interview and related content, which includes defamatory statements, including false statements regarding Hart’s supposed criminal conduct, which are damaging to his reputation and thereby to his livelihood as a performer.”
In a previously ruling in an anti-SLAPP motion filed by Kebe prior to the settlement, the judge said that Hart could proceed with his causes of action against Kebe for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional interference with contract.
Fujie dismissed Kebe’s claim for civil extortion as well as the causes of action for defamation and invasion of privacy by Hart’s company, Kevin Hart Enterprises. Hart and Kebe settled his part of the case against her earlier this year and no terms were divulged.
The anti-SLAPP law — Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation — is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their free-speech rights.
No date has been set for trial of Hart’s claims against Shakes.