A bouncer who alleges rapper Lil Wayne attacked him outside a Hollywood nightclub in 2016 must turn over phone text messages to a data collection firm to determine what he may have said about the incident, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Once the data analysis by the Setec firm is complete, plaintiff Andrew Nsunemacher has 10 days to turn over the results to the rapper’s attorneys, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jon R Takasugi said. The judge said he is denying for now a request by Lil Wayne’s lawyers to levy sanctions against Nunemacher, but left open the door for them to bring the motion again later.
Nunemacher was working at the entrance of the Hyde Sunset on June 27, 2016, when members of the rapper’s entourage became angry, according to his court papers. Nunemacher tried to keep the entrance secure, but the singer punched him and knocked him to the ground, then threw a cup of alcohol on his face and yelled an epithet at him while calling him a “white boy,” the suit alleges.
Nunemacher alleges civil rights violations as well as assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The entertainer’s lawyers deny Nunemacher’s allegations and say the text messages are needed to see what Nunemacher said about the encounter, as well as the “life-altering injuries he supposedly sustained and to whom.”
Despite security camera evidence “completely belying” the attack occurred, Nunemacher alleges he has suffered severe mental and emotional harm, has endured multiple invasive surgeries and has been unable to work to this day even though he “had no issue working the rest of his shift following the alleged incident,” the rapper’s lawyers maintain in their court papers.
Last November, “after months of excuses and delay,” Nunemacher turned over two cell phones, the entertainer’s lawyers state in their court papers. The first phone did not contain responsive texts prior to June 2018 and the second phone was nonoperational, according to the singer’s lawyers.
Nunemacher’s alleged “deliberate wiping of his cell phone constitutes intentional spoliation of key evidence,” according to the singer’s attorneys.
But in a sworn declaration, Nunemacher denied he tried to destroy any evidence.
“I did not intentionally wipe or factory-reset the phone in question and I have no knowledge of how the phone became that way…,” Nunemacher said.