LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A judge said today she is inclined to allow lawyers for Usher to ask further questions in a deposition about the sexual history of one of three plaintiffs who sued the singer, alleging he is responsible for their herpes diagnoses.
However, after hearing arguments, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams Court said she wanted to study the issues further and was taking the case under submission. She did not say when she would rule.
The plaintiff at issue in the motion is identified only as Jane Doe. She and the other two plaintiffs sued Usher, now 40, in August 2017, alleging the singer failed to disclose that he has genital herpes before having sex with them. Their complaint alleges sexual battery, fraud, negligence and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Doe alleges her sexual encounters with Usher occurred at his Georgia home.
One of the plaintiffs, Quantasia Sharpton, has agreed to have her name placed in the court papers. The other, a male, is identified only as John Doe.
Doe testified in her deposition that she tested negative for herpes in 2012 and positive four years later.
``There is good cause for discovery of plaintiff's sexual partners during the time she could have been infected with the virus,'' the judge wrote in her tentative ruling. ``That would be the date of the test in 2012, plus any incubation period, through the date of the test in 2016. Good cause for answers to some questions has been established.''
Lawyers for Doe maintain the additional questions invade Doe's privacy.
Usher's real name is Usher Raymond IV.