Diddy Sees John Doe Sexual Assault Case Dismissed, Notching Second Legal Victory Since Trial

A sexual assault civil lawsuit brought against embattled hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs by a John Doe who claimed he was drugged and assaulted at an after party-turned-orgy was dismissed by a California judge this week because the statute of limitation time period has passed. 

Combs, who was found not guilty of the sex trafficking and racketeering charges at his blockbuster trial this summer, still faces several civil lawsuits for various alleged sexual assaults and other crimes; the suits flooded in from alleged victims after his federal indictment went public in September 2024. He now awaits sentencing in a Brooklyn federal lock-up after being found guilty in July of violating the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of individuals across state or national borders for prostitution, at his lengthy criminal trial this summer. 

Several of the civil cases Combs faces have been dismissed since his trial ended in a split verdict. Meanwhile, the rapper’s attorneys are simultaneously attempting to have his charges dismissed and reportedly are attempting to have a pardon granted by President Trump; the powerhouse team of lawyers have so far been unsuccessful in getting him released ahead of his Oct. 3 court date. 

New York Judge Leslie Stroth said the case, filed against the rap mogul, his company, Combs Global, his label Bad Boy Records and was filed by a John Doe in February, is well after the statute of limitations had expired in the two coastal states where it might apply. It also failed to meet the threshold of the recent 20-year statute of limitations in New York, where the California resident filed, because the new law does not apply to cases retroactively.

“Because the action is untimely under both New York and California law, it must be dismissed as to all defendants,” Judge Sloth said regarding the decision. 

The case involved an aspiring pop singer who, at 23 years old in 2015, had landed a gig at an L.A. club that was attended by Combs, who expressed interest in the plaintiff, according to his suit. At the afterparty for the gig, Combs handed him a drink and he soon began to feel woozy — a common thread in the legal claims and civil cases that Combs faces — and later woke up to see Combs and others engaged in sexual activity, he wrote in the complaint. Combs, he said, forced unwanted sexual activity on him and threatened him with damaging his career if he resisted, he claimed. 

John Doe’s case was brought by Tony Buzbee, the Texas attorney who is handing several civil cases against Combs after establishing a call line for legal complaints against the embattled rapper after he was under federal indictment. After the dismissal, he said that the case is far from over. 

“I wouldn’t call this a victory for Mr. Combs, at all,” Buzbee told Billboard on Wednesday. “We won’t allow Mr. Combs to escape a trial on the merits due to a technicality.”

The dismissal marks the second legal victory for Combs after his federal trial ended with him spared a potential life sentence. Earlier in August, a federal judge dismissed Making the Band 2 contestant Sara Rivers’ $60 million lawsuit alleging abuse at the hands of Combs on the TV series. That case’s dismissal was also related to it being filed too late.