An actor who is suing Tyler Perry for sexual assault and battery lawsuit has asked a judge to compel the filmmaker’s deposition and impose more than $7,000 in monetary sanctions, according to court papers obtained Friday.
Plaintiff Mario Rodriguez appeared in “Boo! A Madea Halloween” and accuses the filmmaker and studio mogul of leveraging his power in Hollywood to make sexual advances. On Wednesday, Rodriguez’s attorney filed court papers with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brock T. Hammond stating that he has been trying to take Perry’s deposition since April 14.
“Two months of meet-and-confer practice have produced a record remarkable for what it does not contain,” plaintiff’s attorney Jonathan Delshad states in his pleadings. “What the record does contain is a pattern: Defendants commit, and then defendants renege.”
Although Perry’s attorneys have ostensibly committed to a Dec. 9 deposition date, “An email from these defendants is not an order; each of their prior commitments lasted only until the next email,” according to Delshad’s court papers.
The Perry attorneys’ central demand has been that Rodriguez’s lawyers agree never to ask Perry whether he is, or has been, sexually attracted to men, a subject the defense insists is irrelevant and inflammatory, according to Delshad’s court papers. Yet, Rodriguez offered Perry’s attorneys’ a deal that if he would stipulate that he has had a sexual interest in men since before he met the plaintiff, Delshad would forgo deposition questioning about Perry’s sexual preferences and sexual orientation altogether, but the defense lawyers said no, according to Delshad.
In a hearing scheduled for July 22, Delshad is asking the judge to order Perry to appear for the Dec. 9 deposition or sooner and bring requested documents. Delshad is also requesting that Hammond assess $7,370 in sanctions against Perry.
In previous court papers, Perry’s attorneys denied Rodriguez’s claims and contended the plaintiff suffered no damages.
“Plaintiff fabricates a story based on a decade’s worth of falsehoods, misrepresentations and outlandish claims that have no basis in fact or law and no merit,” the defense attorneys write in their court papers, adding that Rodriguez is “manipulating the judicial system in a last-ditch effort to shake down Perry to further fund his profligate lifestyle after years of seeking out Perry for money.”
Rodriguez’s amended complaint is a “transparent money grab,” according to the Perry attorneys’ pleadings.