VAN NUYS (CNS) - Attorneys for Kevin Hart are asking a judge to reject a woman's request for reinstatement of her lawsuit accusing the comedian of secretly recording them having consensual sex in 2017 and profiting from the video, calling the motion "improper, frivolous and abusive."
Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Shirley Watkins issued the dismissal order during a June 22 final status conference in plaintiff Montia Sabbag's $60 million suit against the 44-year-old comedian, which alleged negligence and invasion of privacy. Neither Sabbag nor an attorney appeared on her behalf for the proceeding, but two lawyers made remote appearances for Hart.
The dismissal ruling was "without prejudice," meaning the case can be refiled. On Dec. 22, Sabbag's lawyer, Andrew Williams, filed court papers seeking to have the case restored to the court calendar. He states in his court papers that he did not attend the June 22 hearing in part due to family matters and also due to confusion over the status of an appeal regarding the previous dismissal of co-defendant Jonathan "JT" Jackson from the case.
Williams said Sabbag bears no responsibility for the mixup. A hearing on the motion for reconsideration is scheduled for Feb. 26.
But in court papers filed Thursday, Hart's attorneys maintain the motion should be dismissed and a fine levied.
"The reconsideration motion does not include any supporting evidence in the form of a declaration or otherwise, leaving the court with no evidentiary basis to conclude that plaintiff is entitled to any relief, which she is not," Hart's lawyers state.
Sabbag and her lawyer consistently failed to comply with their obligations, costing Hart additional legal fees and ultimately resulting in dismissal of the case, according to Hart's attorneys' court papers, which also state that a hearing should be set on levying a fine against Sabbag "due to the improper, frivolous and abusive nature of the reconsideration motion."
Sabbag's suit was originally brought in federal court, where it was dismissed. She then filed suit in Superior Court in April 2020 and her last amended complaint was brought there in August 2021. Sabbag alleged Hart knew their intimate encounter in his hotel room at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in August 2017 was being recorded and that he used the publicity it generated to promote his "Irresponsible Tour" as well as to increase his overall pop culture status.
The judge previously dismissed all of Sabbag's claims, including negligence and invasion of privacy, against Jackson, Hart's former friend. Jackson was originally charged with trying to extort money from Hart, but the criminal case was dismissed in 2021.
Sabbag alleged Hart allowed Jackson access to the comedian's hotel room and that the two men conspired to record the sexual encounter. Hart has maintained that he had no idea that there was a camera taping his encounter with Sabbag and he urged the judge to dismiss the part of the case against him at the same time she did so with Jackson.
"I did not participate in any videotaping or recording of Sabbag, either while she and I were engaged in sexual relations or at any other time, nor do I know who did," Hart said in a sworn declaration in which he also maintained he "did not conspire with anyone to record or videotape" the plaintiff.
But in her 2022 ruling rejecting dismissal at that time, Watkins said there was a triable issue as to whether defendant Hart knew there was a camera recording, based upon Sabbag's own sworn declaration in which the plaintiff said the comedian moved or adjusted the mirror in his bedroom prior to the intimate encounter.
Watkins further wrote that Sabbag additionally said in her declaration that the sex tape appears to show that the recording device was placed in front of the bed in Hart's bedroom and that it seemed to be reflecting off the same mirror she says she saw him move and adjust before their intimacy.