Dr. Luke is a “limited public figure,” the New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The new update comes about a month before the trial between the producer (real name Lukasz Gottwald) and Kesha is set to begin. As a public figure, Luke will be subject to a higher burden of proof in court.
The ruling overturns a previous appeals court decision that declared him a private figure.
“By 2014, when Gottwald initiated this defamation action, he was, by his own account, a celebrity — an acclaimed music producer who had achieved enormous success in a high-profile career,” Judge Michael Garcia wrote on Tuesday, per Reuters. As a limited public figure, he must “prove by clear and convincing evidence that [Kesha] acted with actual malice.”
The ruling also found that Kesha should have been allowed by a state judge to file counterclaims against Luke for emotional distress and punitive damages, Reuters reports. Luke’s attorney Christine Lepera tells Rolling Stone they are “confident” Kesha’s “limited counterclaim will fail and be rejected in all events, just as we are fully confident that Mr. Gottwald will prevail at trial on his defamation claims.”
“We are pleased that the Court of Appeals agreed with Dr. Luke that the vast majority of Ms. Sebert’s statements are properly the subject of his defamation claim,” Lepera says. “While the Court of Appeals is permitting Ms. Sebert to assert a counterclaim, it has been substantially narrowed.”
Lepera did not respond to a request for comment specifically on the “public figure” designation of the producer. An attorney and a rep for Kesha did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
Kesha first filed suit against her producer and label owner in 2014, alleging an extended period of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and attempting to extricate herself from her contract. Luke countersued that same year, vehemently denying all her allegations and claiming that the singer had defamed him.
A judge dismissed Kesha’s claims in 2016, largely on the grounds that they were too old, but Luke’s defamation case is set to go to trial in July.
“I feel as if there has been an implied gag order for a very long time now,” Kesha told Rolling Stone in late April. “With my ongoing litigation hanging over my head, I have not been able to speak freely because I know everything I say is scrutinized.”