A judge Wednesday denied a motion by an attorney for four former housekeepers for Smokey Robinson who allege they were sexually abused by the music legend and want a judge to consider holding Robinson’s attorney in contempt for allegedly violating confidential deposition testimony regarding the plaintiffs while speaking in open court.
In court papers filed Monday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin C. Brazile, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Colin Mendoza, contended that Robinson’s attorney revealed during a Sept. 11 hearing that two of the plaintiffs are sisters and also disparaged one of those sibling’s employment history.
“That’s the type of information they don’t want the public to know,” Robinson’s attorney, Christopher Frost, said in court, according to Mendoza.
But on Wednesday, Brazile denied the contempt motion, as well as a second request to impose monetary and evidentiary sanctions on Frost. The two sides also held a conference concerning the case in which discovery issues were resolved, but the judge’s clerk’s minute order did not elaborate.
In a previous statement about the lawsuit, Frost said that he will eventually move to dismiss the lawsuit and to ask the judge to address his belief that in their statements to the media about Robinson the housekeepers’ attorneys have “reached beyond the bounds of liberties that even lawyers are typically allowed in this context.”
According to their suit filed May 6, the four former housekeepers 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 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.
“We will have more to say on this matter, as we fiercely defend our clients against these false allegations and work to protect their good names,” Frost further said in his previous statement.