In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Tiffany Haddish is accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl in 2013, an allegation that the actress’s lawyer denies
Tiffany Haddish’s lawyer has responded to a lawsuit against her in which she’s accused of molestation.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in the California’s Superior Court for Los Angeles County, a woman identified as Jane Doe sued Haddish, 42, and comedian Aries Spears, 47, on behalf of a minor identified as John Doe.
“Plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, has been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years,” Haddish’s lawyer tells PEOPLE in a statement on the lawsuit. “Every attorney who has initially taken on her case — and there were several — ultimately dropped the matter once it became clear that the claims were meritless and Ms. Haddish would not be shaken down.”
Adds the attorney: “Now, Ms. Morris has her adult daughter representing herself in this lawsuit. The two of them will together face the consequences of pursuing this frivolous action.”
Spears’ lawyer also says in a statement shared with PEOPLE that he “isn’t going to fall for any shakedown.”
Jane alleges in court documents obtained by PEOPLE that Haddish “groomed” the plaintiffs, leaving them “traumatized for life.”
The plaintiff claims that Haddish was “a longtime family friend” of her and John Doe’s mother and that in 2013, when Jane Doe was 14, Haddish took her to the taping of a “sexually suggestive Subways commercial” that Haddish allegedly said would help Jane Doe get on television and would be included in the teenager’s film reel. During the taping, Haddish allegedly instructed Jane Doe on how to perform inappropriate sexual acts after watching an older man and woman in a video.
Jane Doe says in the lawsuit that the memory was “unlocked” when “Haddish performed a similar scene” in 2017’s Girls Trip, making her “[realize] the severity of what happened to her.”
Per the filing, plaintiff John Doe was allegedly molested by Spears in 2014 after Haddish told him he would be taping a reel for Nickelodeon at Spears’ home. While there, Haddish allegedly told Jane Doe that she needed John Doe alone and took him to a room where Spears began “molesting” the then 7-year-old on film. Court documents claim that Haddish witnessed the alleged incident “and aided, abetted, and watched Spears sexually molest a child.”
John Doe says in a statement that Spears and Haddish gave him a drink that made him sleepy and “happy face candy.” Haddish also allegedly paid the siblings $100, he says.
The alleged footage was shared on “Funny or Die” in 2014 before it was pulled last May, according to the lawsuit.
“The Plaintiffs were both minors and were incapable of consenting to participate in sexually graphic videos distributed and published via ‘Funny or Die’s’ platform,” the lawsuit says, adding: “There was no parent or guardian present.”
Though the footage was allegedly published, Spears is accused of telling the plaintiffs’ mother that it had been deleted when she requested to see it after John Doe called her crying after the taping.
Jane Doe says she and her younger brother have suffered immense damage since their alleged encounters. “Plaintiff Jane Doe is 22 years of age now and has never dated,” the suit says. “She is scared she will be taken advantage of again and led down a path of false trust like the path that Haddish led her down.”
It adds that John Doe now has “a social disorder, depression, and anxiety,” stating that he “stays in his room at home and places band-aids over the cameras on his electronics for fear of being watched or recorded.”
Their mother has also faced mental health issues, and Jane Doe is John Doe’s current guardian, the lawsuit says.
Haddish and Spears are being sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress, gross negligence, sexual battery, sexual harassment and sexual abuse of a minor.
Haddish is sued for negligence supervision/failure to warn, breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud.
The lawsuit doesn’t specify an amount.
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