LOS ANGELES (CNS) - An attorney for Danny Elfman is asking a judge to strike passages in a pianist's defamation suit against the songwriter, calling them irrelevant in a lawsuit allegedly aimed at ruining Elfman's "hard-won reputation and legacy."
Plaintiff Nomi Abadi's Los Angeles Superior Court complaint against Elfman, filed July 10, pertains to remarks he made during a 2023 media interview. Elfman's denials of Abadi's allegations of repeated sexual harassment and misconduct were included in an investigative piece about a settlement he made with his former mentee.
Among the information the 71-year-old Elfman seeks to be stricken from Abadi's suit as irrelevant are the passages stating, "Initially, Elfman feigned embarrassment about his nudity, but reiterated to Nomi that nudity was an essential part of his writing routine and enhanced his creativity" and that "Nomi tried every way to protect herself from Elfman and establish boundaries while trying to resume the professional relationship they had started out with."
Elfman's motion was written by attorney Camille M. Vasquez, who represented Johnny Depp in his dueling litigation with former spouse Amber Heard.
"There is a deep irony that pervades this case," Vasquez writes in court papers filed Wednesday with Judge Gail Killefer. "Plaintiff Nomi Abadi seeks to present herself as a victim of sexual misconduct and defamation by a powerful Hollywood figure -- a narrative designed to capture the public interest and generate public anger toward such a defendant. But that narrative is utterly false."
According to Vasquez's court papers, Abadi filed the lawsuit as part of a "yearslong campaign of vindictive and abusive conduct ... to harass and embarrass" Elfman and to "destroy his hard-won reputation and legacy" at the height of the #metoo movement.
Abadi's case is a "press release-masquerading" as a lawsuit and includes numerous "salacious, and blatantly false, allegations that are completely irrelevant to her claim" and should be stricken, according to Vasquez's pleadings.
Vasquez further writes that Abadi was a fan of Elfman who became romantically obsessed with him and although they had a brief friendship, they eventually broke up over politics.
Once Abadi's romantic aspirations were dashed, the plaintiff turned on Mr. Elfman and made up a story that he had "behaved inappropriately around her," according to Vasquez's court papers.
A hearing on the motion-to-strike is scheduled Dec. 3.