Sharing This Article

What Has Garth Brooks Been Accused Of?

According to new documents filed on November 1, Garth Brooks hopes to move his current legal case to a federal court.

This action comes after a woman identified as “Jane Roe” filed a lawsuit against Brooks on October 4 in California. The woman previously worked as a hairstylist and makeup artist for Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood.

Jane Roe accused Brooks of rape and sexual assault. After this news broke, the public learned Brooks first filed an anonymous lawsuit against Roe in Mississippi in September, which read in part:

“Defendant’s allegations are not true. Defendant is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit.”

Garth Brooks Addresses The Accustations

After Jane Roe publicly named him in her lawsuit, Brooks released a statement addressing her accusations.

“For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars,” he said. “It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face.”

He added, “I am not the man they have painted me to be.”

Then, Brooks briefly spoke about the lawsuit during his Inside Studio G session on October 7:

“This thing is on,” he said. “It’s gonna happen. And people are telling me it could be up to two years, so my suggestion is, we all take a deep breath, we all just kind of settle in and let’s hold hands and take the trip together, okay?”

Brooks later drew criticism from Jane Roe’s legal team when he revealed her name in court documents he filed on October 8.

“Garth Brooks just revealed his true self. Out of spite and to punish, he publicly named a rape victim,” read the attorneys’ statement. “With no legal justification, Brooks outed her because he thinks the laws don’t apply to him. On behalf of our client, we will be moving for maximum sanctions against him immediately.”

RELATED: TRISHA YEARWOOD BREAKS SILENCE WITH 3-WORD STATEMENT FOLLOWING GARTH BROOKS LAWSUIT FILING

For his part, Brooks criticized Jane Roe’s legal team for revealing his identity in her lawsuit before the Mississippi court could decide whether Brooks could continue using a pseudonym in the case. Brooks’ own legal team also pointed to an October 1 filing from Jane Roe’s lawyers, in which they said:

“Although Ms. Roe believes that her name warrants protection and that ultimately the California court should decide that issue, she is willing to proceed using her name here if this Court believes that is necessary in denying Plaintiff’s motion.”

After Jane Roe publicly named Brooks in her lawsuit, he filed his amended complaint without using a pseudonym for either of them.

Garth Brooks Files To Move His Case To Federal Court

That brings us to more recent times. Brooks filed new paperwork on November 1 requesting his case be moved to a federal court. PEOPLE reviewed the documents and reported:

“[Brooks filed] to have his complaint against Roe heard in federal court, since the damages that she asked for in her lawsuit against him exceed $75K, which falls within the federal court regulations.“

Legal expert Tre Lovell spoke with Entertainment Tonight about the case. Lovell told the outlet that Brooks could experience “advantages” by taking his case to a federal court. He could see a “quicker trial date” along with a “broader jury pool.”

Lovell also stated that there’s an idea judges can be more “amendable to dismissing a case” at the federal level.

Stay tuned for any future developments on this story.

Sharing This Article