The legal battle between Kesha and Dr. Luke may be far from over, but one side has claimed a small victory: On Wednesday a judge dropped Dr. Luke’s lawsuits against Kesha’s mom, Pebe Sebert, and her manager, Jack Rovner, according to The Hollywood Reporter. On Tuesday, Kesha’s mom tweeted that Dr. Luke has been allegedly trying to blackmail her for “telling the truth about him” by forcing Sebert to relinquish songwriting credit on the 2013 Pitbull song “Timber,” featuring Kesha, or else the 15 other songwriters credited on the song would no longer receive royalties. In October 2014, Dr. Luke sued Kesha’s mom following the singer’s allegations of sexual abuse against the producer, arguing that Sebert had made defamatory claims about his behavior, forced Kesha to break her contract with Dr. Luke’s label, and was trying to extort him. The judge ruled Wednesday in Sebert’s favor, saying there was no jurisdiction over her in New York. She still faces a similar lawsuit from Dr. Luke in Tennessee.
Additionally, the judge tossed out Dr. Luke’s lawsuit against her manager. The producer claimed Rovner had “longstanding antipathy” toward him and was trying to intervene to gain more money and control over Kesha’s career. The court ruled on Wednesday that, personal feelings aside, Rovner has not acted outside the scope of his authority.
Kesha’s next big court date is scheduled for February 19, where she’ll fight to have an injunction granted that allows her to release music without Dr. Luke or his label’s involvement for the first time. Kesha has not released music under her own name since 2013, but she recently formed a band called the Yeast Infection. Kesha’s lawyers have previously argued that if the pop star is no longer able to put out music, her career will be “past the point of no return.”
