Dr. Dre’s first attempt to gut the $10 million civil harassment lawsuit filed against him by his former psychiatrist didn’t get much California love in a courtroom Thursday.
At a morning hearing, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark H. Epstein said he didn’t agree with the billionaire music mogul that the 11 allegedly harassing text messages Dre sent to his former doctor in 2023 should be stricken from the lawsuit because they were made in furtherance of either Dre’s constitutional right to free speech or his protected right to pursue litigation.
“It looks like a bunch of angry [messages] and I don’t see how they further the process of a medical board complaint,” Judge Mark H. Epstein said. “He’s just hurling insults.”
Dre, born Andre Young, had argued in his underlying motion to strike that he already intended to pursue his “legal options,” meaning a medical board complaint or a civil lawsuit, when he sent Sophy the first of the text messages. According to Young, Sophy acted as family therapist and mediator during Young’s 2021 divorce from his now ex-wife Nicole. Young claims he confronted Sophy with the texts because he discovered malpractice. For his part, Sophy has denied any malpractice and says he considered the texts to be threats of physical violence. He said the messages left him “terrified,” causing him to constantly fear for his life and wear a “bulletproof cap and vest” in public.
“I discovered that Sophy had attempted to poison my relationship with my son, including by urging him to disclose my financial records to the media as part of his attempts to pressure me into settling my divorce on unfair terms,” Young claimed in a January declaration explaining himself to the court. “I used strong language, at times rough, because I was deeply upset about his unethical conduct and was serious about my warnings to him that I would pursue my legal remedies.”
In his first four texts sent Feb. 16, 2023, Young called Sophy a “bitch” and a “piece of shit” and said Sophy was “going to have to pay” for his alleged interaction with Young’s son. In four more texts sent Feb. 17, 2023, Young said Sophy “fucked up” and “fucked with the wrong one.”
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During oral arguments Thursday, Judge Epstein said the first eight texts all appeared to lack any “functional relationship” to a legal proceeding. He said a text message sent on March 5, 2023, might qualify as protected, but only a portion. In that text, Young wrote, “You’re going to have to give me a written apology. If not, I’m moving forward. I’m not playing, trust me.”
Young’s lawyer, Jackson Trugman, argued that his client was “trying to hold the doctor accountable for alleged misconduct and seeking an explanation and an apology.” He said all of those things were the “objectives” of his planned legal actions. Trugman said the first texts were sent late at night during a period of frustration and then clarified the next morning when Young went into “more detail.”
“Where does he seek an explanation, other than in text message nine?” Judge Epstein asked. “I don’t see anything that would suggest that all of this is in furtherance of getting information to go to the medical board or to file litigation … Was he mad? Sure he was mad. Did he use terms I wouldn’t necessarily use? Well, I don’t know, maybe I would use them. But it’s the lack of a linkage.”
The judge said the texts also didn’t appear to qualify for the special protection given to public statements made in furtherance of public discourse. “For the plaintiff to say something to the defendant like, ‘You’re a piece of shit,’ I’m not sure that’s furthers the public discourse,” Judge Epstein said Thursday. “That, I think, is private communication.”
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In a 10th text sent April 25, 2023, Young again called Sophy a “piece of shit” and said he wasn’t “going anywhere” until Sophy explained himself. In a final text sent Aug. 4, 2023, Young wrote, “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgot about you.”
Sophy’s lawyer, Christopher Frost, said Thursday he agreed with the judge’s tentative order. “Just because [Young] happens to also file a medical board complaint doesn’t mean he gets to abuse my client,” Frost said. “All he’s doing is hurling abusive insults.”
Judge Epstein declined to issue a final ruling Thursday, saying he was taking the matter under submission. If he adopts his tentative, all but a portion of the ninth text will stay in the lawsuit as the complaint clears its first hurdle and continues toward a trial.
In one telling exchange with Young’s lawyer, Judge Epstein asked why Young’s side decided to challenge the lawsuit on the grounds that it was attempting to chill Young’s right to protected activity. The judge hinted Young might have more success challenging the complaint on the basis it didn’t make a strong enough case that the texts rose to the level of civil harassment. “A demurrer might very well have been more successful,” the judge said. “There’s a lot of insults you can hurl without violating the law. Whether it’s part of free speech is a different issue, but you know, people can say all kinds of mean things to other people, and it’s not a tort.”
The motion at the center of Thursday’s hearing did not address another portion of Sophy’s lawsuit that claimed a group of individuals claiming to be FBI agents showed up at his gated community and asked to see him the day after Young sent his first four text messages. The lawsuit alleged the individuals were sent by Young to intimidate Sophy. Young denies any connection.
Sophy sought a parallel restraining order against Young that was denied by a different judge in November. Young, meanwhile, filed a confidential complaint against Sophy with the medical board.
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“That complaint seeks revocation of Dr. Sophy’s license to provide mental health counseling to needy patients. In gross violation of all applicable standards of care, Dr. Sophy inserted himself into a contentious divorce while he simultaneously ‘treated’ not only Mr. and Mrs. Young, but their children,” Young’s other lawyer, Howard King, said in the statement. “He was terminated when it was revealed that he was encouraging one of their children to take sides against Mr. Young, even encouraging his son to go to the press with false allegations in order to force a financial settlement that he recommended.”
King added, “Dr. Sophy has consistently rebuffed Medical Board attempts to investigate these claims, but has now filed this desperate suit while the noose of the Medical Board is tightening.”
