Jay-Z’s Lawsuit Against Tony Buzbee Might Go To Trial

Tony Buzbee might need his own legal counsel. A judge is seemingly in favor of Jay-Z’s defamation case against the lawyer going to trial.

As reported by Rolling Stone, Judge Mark H. Epstein has given the Roc Nation CEO an informal nod of approval with his claims that Tony Buzbee was intentionally trying to defame his character. On Tuesday (Feb. 25), the magistrate held a hearing where he explained there is validity to Jay-Z’s concern and questioned if Tony Buzbee proceeded with the lawsuit ethically. He pointed out that the lawyer said he would not reveal the names of the defendants in the now dismissed sexual assault case until a formal investigation was completed. But in a social media post a user speculated that the John Doe was Jay-Z to which Buzbee liked the comment.

“When someone says Doe is Carter, and [Buzbee] ‘likes’ it, it’s not unreasonable to infer that [Buzbee] has just affirmed that he’s right, that Doe is Carter,” Epstein said. “Not having done the investigation we’d all like one to do is not going to be enough to show actual malice, I know that. The concern I have is juxtaposing that with Mr. Buzbee’s statements that he was not going to bring a lawsuit until he had done a full investigation,” Epstein said. “I agree this is the hardest question of the case, the ‘actual malice’ question.”

The judge would go on to question how Tony Buzbee proceeded with this high-profile filing. “If you say, ‘I’m not going to name names until I’ve done real investigating,’ and then you name a name, isn’t the implication that you did conduct a real investigation? And if you didn’t, is it okay? Is actual malice still not satisfied when I’m telling the public, ‘I did a real investigation and this guy engaged in child rape,’ and actually, I didn’t?”

Judge Mark H. Epstein did not seem in favor of granting Jay-Z the green light to move forward with his extortion lawsuit against Tony Buzbee, but the next hearing on this case is scheduled for March 26.