Sean Combs Accuser Sara Rivers Appeals Lawsuit Dismissal

Sara Rivers, the Making the Band 2 contestant who sued Sean Combs in a $60 million racketeering and sexual assault lawsuit in February, is appealing a judge’s recent ruling that permanently dismissed all but one of her claims.

In a new federal court filing obtained by Rolling Stone, Rivers says she is going to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a bid to overturn the lower court judge’s Aug. 14 dismissal decision. The new filing does not give the basis for the planned appeal but lists Combs, Bad Boy Entertainment, Janice Combs, Universal Music, Viacom, and MTV Productions among the defendants placed on notice.

In his ruling last month, U.S. District Judge Jed. S. Rakoff dismissed “finally and with prejudice” 21 of the 22 causes of action in Rivers’ lengthy lawsuit. That means they cannot be filed again.

Judge Rakoff said he was holding off on deciding the final fate of the last remaining cause of action — count 15 in the 148-page lawsuit — to wait for an appeals court decision on whether the claim-revival window created under New York City’s Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act was legally allowed to remain open after New York’s Adult Survivors Act, a statewide statute, closed its similar window for otherwise time-barred sexual misconduct claims.

Rivers alleged in her lawsuit that Combs stroked her breasts and subjected her to sexual harassment during production of the hit MTV reality show, which started filming in 2002. In her cause of action citing the GMVPA, Rivers alleged that Combs “cornered” and sexually assaulted her at his recording studio and then blackballed her in the music industry when she rebuffed his advances.

Combs, 55, and several of his co-defendants challenged the lawsuit as being well beyond the statute of limitations. Rivers’ first cause of action alleged a racketeering conspiracy involving all the named defendants. “From the outset, we have said these claims were meritless, time-barred, and legally deficient. The court agreed, finding no legal basis to allow them to proceed,” Combs’ civil lawyer Erica Wolff said in a statement last month. “We are pleased the court carefully analyzed and swiftly dismissed these baseless claims.”

Rivers’ lawyer, Ariel Mitchell, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Known as Sara Stokes when she appeared on Making the Band 2, Rivers was also part of the Bad Boy Records hip-hop group Da Band. In her lawsuit, Rivers claimed Combs controlled her sleeping schedule, mocked her eating disorder, yelled at her, and forced her to do menial manual labor without pay. She recalled the time Combs sent her from Manhattan to Brooklyn on foot to fetch him some cheesecake. The errand was filmed for the show.

Combs is still battling dozens of other civil lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct. The music mogul remains in federal custody pending his Oct. 3 sentencing for his July conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. After an eight-week trial in New York, he was found guilty of the Mann Act violations but acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.