A judge has dismissed Kevin Hart’s defamation suit against a former personal assistant that dealt with the aide’s remarks during an online interview.
On Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly J. Fujie tossed Hart’s remaining claims against the ex-assistant, Miesha Shakes, which in addition to defamation were for invasion of privacy and breach of contract. The court’s minute order noted that no declaration was filed as to why the case should not be dismissed.
The judge’s ruling was “without prejudice,” meaning Hart is not barred from refiling the case under the appropriate legal circumstances.
Earlier this month 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, the 45-year-old Hart’s attorneys 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.
Hart’s lawyers maintained the comedian and Shakes had a non-disclosure agreement and that Shakes breached the accord, although Shakes maintains the contract took advantage of her mental state at the time. Hart’s attorneys also contended that Shakes and Kebe sought money in order to keep quiet.
In a sworn declaration, Shakes maintained that she was unaware of the NDA’s terms.
“At the time of signing the NDA, I was suffering from significant mental health issues and was under considerable financial distress due to my unemployment,” Shakes said. “Hart was fully aware of my ongoing health issues and critical need for health insurance and funds, as I could not afford health insurance or my prescribed medications.”
Hart’s attorneys contended that Shakes and Kebe sought $250,000 in exchange for keeping quiet, but Shakes said she was not involved in an extortion plot against Hart and that her use of the word “charges” during the interview pertained to potential civil, not criminal allegations.
Kebe has a history of publishing and broadcasting defamatory content about public figures and was recently found liable for nearly $4 million in a defamation suit brought by Cardi B, according to Hart’s attorneys’ pleadings.
In his own sworn declaration, Hart said Shakes admitted during the interview that she obtained some of the information she discussed by secretly listening through the walls to private conversations at Hart’s offices.
Hart denied Shakes’ assertion that he made a secret video recording of a romantic liaison he had with a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2017, and he additionally said she wrongfully divulged information about his interactions with his wife after the hotel encounter became public.