Judge Throws Out Kesha’s Case Against Dr. Luke

According to TMZ, New York judge has thrown out pop singer Kesha’s lawsuit against producer Dr. Luke (nee Lukasz Gottwald), ending her most recent battle to be relinquished from a six-album contract with Sony. This decision concludes months of back-and-forth between the singer and her major label, with each side claiming the other was not acting in good faith.

While Sony claimed Kesha was free to record with other producers and without any involvement from Gottwald, Kesha (nee Kesha Rose Sebert) stated that she was made a “slave” by the requirement she work with him. Earlier this year Kesha sought an injunction that would free her from the lengthy major label contract on the grounds that the producer had sexually and emotionally abused her. That injunction was denied in February by the New York Supreme Court. Judge Shirley Kornreich explained her decision:

“You’re asking the court to decimate a contract that was heavily negotiated and is typical for the industry. My instinct is to do the commercially reasonable thing. I don’t understand why I have to take the extraordinary measure of granting an injunction.”

While the assumption is that Kesha’s main beef is with her label, Sony, they are in fact unable to dissolve the contract she has with Dr. Luke. The singer is under contract with Kasz Money, who has its own separate contract with the music giant’s RCA/ Jive subsidiary. While there was a rumor earlier last month that Dr. Luke would be released from his Sony contract early, those rumblings seem to be unfounded.

The judge rejected every one of the singer’s arguments, including the claim that she had become a “slave” to Sony Records because she was not allowed to work with anyone other than Dr. Luke. This is another area where both sides dispute what the other is claiming, with Sony stating that Kesha is free to work with any of Dr. Luke’s understudies or even anyone else under the Sony umbrella. Conversely, Kesha alleges that the major label will not allow her to work with anyone but Dr. Luke.

“Although [Luke’s] alleged actions were directed to Kesha, who is female, [her claims] do no allege that [Luke] harbored animus toward women or was motivated by gender animus when he allegedly behaved violently toward Kesha.”

Additionally, the judge did not accept the argument that Kesha was a hate crime victim – ending with the statement: “Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime.