TI and wife hit with sexual assault lawsuit over alleged 2005 hotel incident (Update)

UPDATE (August 9): A judge has dismissed a sexual assault lawsuit filed against TI and his wife, Tiny Harris, after the couple's accuser Jane Doe failed to respond to the couple's motion to dismiss the case in a timely manner, according to documents filed in Los Angeles court. Angeles on Thursday (Aug. 8).

At her command, judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett writes that after the lawsuit was filed, TI and Tiny raised two challenges to the woman's complaint: that it was barred by the statute of limitations; and that the woman failed to provide “factual allegations” to support her claim that the couple drugged and sexually assaulted her at a nightclub in 2005. However, the judge left the door open for the woman to file an amended complaint within 21 days.

PREVIOUS (January 3): WHAT and his wife Tiny Harris are facing a new civil lawsuit alleging they drugged and sexually assaulted a woman they met at a Los Angeles nightclub in 2005.

In a complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles court, attorneys for a Jane Doe accuser say TI (Clifford Harris) and Tiny (Tameka Harris) gave her a flavored drink after meeting them in the VIP section of a club and they kept bringing her. back to their hotel room where they “forced her to undress” and assaulted her.

“Plaintiff did not consent to any of the sexual assault or misconduct and lacked the capacity to consent after being drugged by the defendants,” the alleged victim's attorneys wrote in the lawsuit, which was obtained by Bulletin board.

Lawyers for the accuser, who say she was in her twenties and serving in the US Air Force at the time, claim she was introduced to the couple by an associate of his named “Caviar”, whom he says she met the night before at his home the rapper Coolio. Midway through the alleged incident, after allegedly drinking a drink offered to her by Tiny, she began to feel “extremely light-headed and dizzy” and later passed out.

In a statement to Bulletin board On Wednesday, TI and Tiny “vehemently and categorically” denied the allegations and vowed to fight a lawsuit they said the plaintiff had been threatening to file for years.

“For three years we have maintained our innocence and refuse to pay these extortionate demands for things we did not do,” the couple wrote. “For three years, we have maintained the same position while the allegations in this story have changed over and over again. Our position is clear… We are innocent of these false allegations, we will not be swayed and we look forward to our day in court.”

Tuesday's lawsuit shares similarities with previously reported charges. In 2021, the New York Times reported a police investigation alleged 2005 incident in which “a military veteran” claimed the celebrity couple “raped her in a hotel room” after she became “incapacitated” while drinking with them in the “VIP section” of a Los Angeles club.

At the time, the pair vehemently denied any wrongdoing, saying the allegations were part of “a sordid shakedown campaign”. Prosecutors later declined to file charges on the allegations, citing the expiration of a 10-year statute of limitations.

The new case has been filed under California's Sexual Abuse and Liability Cover-Up Act, which created a four-year window until 2026 for alleged victims to file cases that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations. The law is similar to New York's adult survivor law, which recently led to a surge in sexual abuse cases in that state before the law expired in November.

Representatives for the Harrises and their label, Grand Hustle Records, did not immediately return requests for comment about the lawsuit's allegations. The lawyer who represented the couple during the previous police investigation also declined to comment.

The new lawsuit against the Harrises contains clear details of the alleged sexual assault.

After meeting TI and Tiny at the nightclub, the plaintiff's attorneys allege that Tiny “gave the plaintiff a drink” and “watched her have a drink.” A short time later, the trio reportedly returned to a nearby hotel, where Tiny “took off all of the plaintiff's clothes,” stripped herself, and joined a naked T.I.

“Plaintiff was then instructed to enter the shower and TI and Tiny entered the shower with her,” her attorneys write. “The plaintiff was extremely shocked and uncomfortable.” After showering, the accuser claims she began to feel “extremely light-headed and dizzy” and was “obviously drugged” as TI told her to go to bed.

“Plaintiff could tell she was experiencing something severe and debilitating that was not symptomatic of a typical drink or few drinks,” her lawyers say.

After TI allegedly forced her to watch pornographic films, she then “demanded that she begin rubbing oil on his back and naked body, while Tiny “proceeded to get on the plaintiff's back, while she was still naked, and rub forward -back' over her. Then, “while Tiny was down on the plaintiff's back pinning her down,” the plaintiff alleges that TI “proceeded to slide his toes into the plaintiff's vagina.”

“Plaintiff became increasingly ill and felt extremely ill from the assault and battery she experienced,” Doe's attorneys wrote. Eventually, he “forced himself up and went into the bathroom where he vomited.” She later emerged from the bathroom “naked, dizzy, sick and weak” and passed out on a sofa.

When she was woken up by a security guard the next morning, the accuser claims he “immediately noticed that her vagina was in severe pain.” As she cried, she says the guard then escorted her out of the room.

The lawsuit is the latest in a recent spate of lawsuits alleging sexual assault and harassment by men in the music industry. In the past year, such cases have been filed against hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, Aerosmith star Steven Tyler, Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine and former Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, among many others .

Read the full complaint against TI and Tiny here: