T.I. and Tiny’s defamation accuser was a no-show Thursday at a court-ordered hearing where she was due to face a contempt charge in her ongoing legal war with the married musicians. While Los Angeles Judge Michael Shultz previously promised to issue a warrant for Sabrina Peterson’s arrest if she didn’t appear in person, he instead granted a delay, pushing the matter out to March 24.
A lawyer representing T.I. and Tiny blasted Peterson’s absence, claiming she knew about the hearing but willfully “evaded” and “ignored” his attempts to serve her with formal notice. The lawyer, Andrew Brettler, asked the judge to dismiss the entire case as punishment. He said his clients, also known as Clifford Harris and Tameka Cottle-Harris, have been spending “time and money” defending themselves while Peterson allegedly drags her feet.
“We’re here on a contempt because plaintiff has not taken this case seriously for the last three years,” Brettler said. “She’s refusing to accept service or participate in the case herself. Her lawyers want out, and she’s posting on social media how she needs to go to trial in June. It’s outrageous. They’re not taking their own case seriously. We ask for a dismissal with prejudice. And if they ever decide to get their act together, they can refile.”
Judge Shultz said it was true Peterson had failed to appear, but his hands were tied. “I’m not going to issue a body attachment or bench warrant at this time because I have no personal service,” he explained. The judge then hinted he might use his own discretion to scrap the case soon if he finds Peterson is willfully stalling. On the same day the parties are due back for the contempt hearing, the judge said he’ll also consider Peterson’s “failure to prosecute” her own case.
Peterson, a former friend of the Harrises, alleges in her ongoing defamation complaint that T.I. held a gun to her head and said, “Bitch, I’ll kill you,” after she got in an argument with his assistant. She posted about the alleged assault on her Instagram account in January 2021 and also shared video and screen shots purportedly showing other women accusing T.I. of abuse. According to Peterson, T.I. and Tiny defamed her and invaded her privacy when they denied her allegations and disparaged her in subsequent statements on social media.
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For their part, the Harrises deny any wrongdoing. They fought the lawsuit after it was filed in 2021 and prevailed in their effort to get five of its seven causes of action dismissed as frivolous. The stricken claims involved accusations of trade libel, business interference, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The contempt charge now pending against Peterson involves her failure to pay more than $96,000 in court-granted attorney’s fees to T.I. and Tiny for the five dismissed claims.
During the Thursday hearing, Judge Schultz also heard from one of Peterson’s lawyers, Allison Brandi Margolin, that some type of “absolute” breakdown in her relationship with Peterson took place last Friday. Margolin said the conflict made it impossible for either her or her co-counsel, Kasra Parsad, to continue representing Peterson. The judge said the lawyers had to file formal motions to be relieved as counsel before he could address the matter. Still, he noted the alleged collapse of the attorney-client relationship was an issue. Brettler then asked that the matter’s June trial date be taken off calendar. The judge declined after another defendant in the case, Shekinah Jones Anderson, pushed back.
According to Peterson’s lawsuit, T.I., Tiny, and Anderson defamed her when they used their social media accounts boasting more than 23 million combined followers to make “demonstrably false” statements that people “reasonably” understood to be about her. Tiny’s posts included a photo of T.I. posing with Peterson’s son, who was eight years old at the time. “Hold up,” Tiny wrote on Jan. 26, 2021. “So you want your abuser to train your sons? He was just uncle 2 years ago… now when did you say my husband assaulted you? Did you change your mind or change it back? What’s up wit you today Pooh?… You strange. Everybody know you been special.”
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Three days later, T.I. and Tiny posted a joint statement denying Peterson’s claims. T.I. then posted a video to his Instagram that went viral. “Whatever we ever have done has been done with consensual adults who into what we into and like what we like,” he said. “We want something, we know exactly where to go to get it. We ain’t never forced nobody, we ain’t never drugged nobody against their will. We ain’t never held nobody against their will. We never made nobody do anything. We never trafficked anything. Well, sexually traffic, anything. I ain’t ever raped nobody.”
Anderson, meanwhile, posted on Jan. 29, 2021, that Peterson allegedly wanted Tiny to be her girlfriend and was seeking “attention.” Peterson claimed that after the couple and Anderson issued their statements, she was “inundated with harassing and threatening Instagram messages.” She said T.I. and Tiny’s denials caused Peterson “to be shunned by clients” and exposed her to “hatred, ridicule, and contempt.”
On Thursday, Anderson appeared at the hearing by video and reiterated her claim that the lawsuit was causing her hardship. She was adamant she didn’t want another trial delay.
“She’s constantly harassing me on Instagram. It’s not fair. It’s very stressful,” Anderson told the court, referring to Peterson. “I’m ready to live again. I feel like I’m in prison even though I’m not. I went broke paying for attorneys in the beginning.”
