Mark Geragos isn’t taking lightly an accusation from Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald that he perjured himself during a deposition in a dispute between the producer and the lawyer’s former client Kesha.
Geragos’ attorneys on Thursday filed a fiery opposition to Gottwald’s request that the court find him in contempt for allegedly lying about documents being deleted.
“Dr. Luke’s contempt motion is a baseless and prima facie bad faith effort to further his long-standing campaign to disparage Kesha in this Court and in the media by branding her, and now her former counsel, as a liar in order to avoid the consequences of his years of abuse,” writes attorney Robert Raskopf in the first line of the filing. “This motion, predicated on trumped-up charges of ‘perjury’ and ‘contempt,’ is just the latest in a long line of Dr. Luke’s vexatious, scorched-earth litigation tactics against numerous adversaries.”
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Raskopf continues to allege Gottwald is “a serial defamation plaintiff who has sued no fewer than eleven defendants,” who uses litigation to silence critics and says this is his “most egregious tactic yet.” (The producer is currently suing Geragos for defamation in a related matter.)
The November motion for sanctions, Raskopf argues, is merely an attempt to undermine Kesha’s claim that Gottwald drugged and raped her when she was 18.
“Dr. Luke wants everyone’s credibility except for his in doubt, so he bends over backwards to call Kesha and those who support her a liar,” writes Raskopf. “To that end, Dr. Luke frivolously accuses an attorney of perjury — without even quoting the actual testimony he alleges is perjurious, because the actual testimony doesn’t support him. In fact, Mr. Geragos’ testimony is a literally true response to a badly phrased question by Dr. Luke’s counsel and does not constitute perjury, much less a false statement.”
Raskopf argues that the contempt claim is meritless because the documents about communications with the press that Geragos & Geragos didn’t hand over in discovery weren’t responsive to Gottwald’s subpoena. He also alleges that any supposed issue could have been addressed in a meet-and-confer but wasn’t. (Read the full filing below.)
Gottwald’s attorney Christine Lepera sent The Hollywood Reporter a statement in response to the filing. “Mr. Geragos refuses to take responsibility for his wrongdoing,” she says. “Instead, he makes up false facts and violates Court orders. This is exactly why Dr. Luke is seeking contempt and sanctions.”
Dec. 6, 12:50 p.m. Updated with a statement from Gottwald’s attorney.
