Rhye lead singer Michael Milosh’s malicious prosecution case towards his ex-wife Alexa Nikolas was stricken from courtroom earlier in February following an anti-SLAPP movement from Nikolas’s attorneys, paperwork reviewed by Rolling Stone affirm. The choice comes practically six months after the singer first sued Nikolas’s legal professionals over claims that that they knowingly filed a “frivolous” lawsuit towards him that “lacked any authorized foundation” relating to allegations of sexual misconduct towards him.
Nikolas, an actor greatest identified for her position in Nickelodeon collection Zoey 101, filed her preliminary swimsuit towards Milosh in 2021, accusing her ex-husband of sexual abuse and grooming. Nikolas dropped her case final yr, and Milosh filed his malicious prosecution case on the finish of August, disputing the claims. Nikolas has advised Rolling Stone that she deliberate on re-filing her case, and reaffirmed that place following the courtroom’s ruling. Attorneys Karen Menzies, Deborah Mallgrave, Brian Williams and Jemma Dunn in addition to the regulation corporations Gibbs Legislation and Greenberg Gross have been listed as defendants.
“His malicious prosecution was malicious prosecution,” Nikolas mentioned in a press release to Rolling Stone. “I might be refiling.”
The defendants first motioned to strike the swimsuit as an illegal Strategic Lawsuit Towards Public Participation — or an anti-SLAPP movement — in November 2022. The courtroom granted the movement on February ninth. The courtroom additionally awarded the defendants practically $6,000 in lawyer’s charges, per the submitting.
In a press release to Pitchfork, which first reported on the submitting, Menzies expressed aid. “This authorized ordeal has been troublesome,” she mentioned, “however I think about this anti-SLAPP ruling a badge of honor earned within the protection of the survivors of sexual assault.”
Milosh isn’t the primary artist to file a malicious prosecution declare following sexual misconduct allegations; Final October, attorneys for Bob Dylan equally sued the attorneys of an unnamed girl who accused Dylan of sexually assaulting her when she was a toddler in 1965. (The girl filed her swimsuit in 2021 and withdrew her case in July 2022.) A rep for Milosh didn’t instantly reply to request for remark relating to the courtroom’s movement. Milosh has repeatedly denied the sexual assault allegations. “I’m being hit with horrific and spiteful lies,” Milosh beforehand advised Rolling Stone. “I reiterate that these accusations are outrageously false and the manipulated tales provably unfaithful.”
Nikolas has spent the previous a number of months protesting music business establishments together with Milosh’s administration firm Pink Mild Administration, claiming they empower sexual misconduct within the music enterprise and calling for change. As she wrote on Twitter, she plans on protesting Pink Mild once more this week.