Attorneys for Smokey Robinson and his wife have formally responded to a lawsuit by four former housekeepers who allege they were sexually abused by the music legend, denying all of their allegations, citing multiple defenses and asking that the complaint be dismissed.
According to their suit filed May 6, the plaintiffs contend the alleged abuses occurred at the 85-year-old Motown icon’s Chatsworth home and elsewhere. A plaintiff identified as Jane Doe 1 alleges Robinson waited until his wife, Frances Robinson, was at a nail salon before abusing her.
The plaintiffs further allege that Frances Robinson tolerated the singer’s behavior toward them and also was herself belligerent in her interactions with the staff.
The judge has ruled that the plaintiffs can proceed anonymously in their suit.
But in their answer to the complaint filed Thursday with Judge Kevin Brazile stating that the housekeepers’ suit should be tossed. and that they should “take nothing by reason of the complaint,” the Robinson attorneys state that each cause of action violates the defendants’ federal and state constitutional rights.
They further state that any award would unjustly enrich the plaintiffs, that their claims are barred by the statute of limitations, that the plaintiffs committed fraud and that any alleged injury or damages they did suffer is negated by the fact that risk was “knowingly and willingly assumed by plaintiffs.”
Two days before the Robinson attorneys had filed the couple’s answer to the complaint, the plaintiffs’ attorneys had filed court papers of their own seeking a default judgment against the couple. The parties held an in-chambers telephonic conference on Friday in which an undisclosed discovery issue was resolved, according to a minute order issued by the judge’s clerk.