The controversial producer is far from winning the defamation suit.
In a ruling published yesterday, the New York State court sided with controversial music producer Dr. Luke against Ke$ha's Attorney, Mark Geragos.
Dr. Luke is suing Geragos over a tweet claiming that the producer had raped Lady Gaga, which the pop star later refuted.
Judge Sabrina Kraus of the New York State Court ruled that the tweets that Geragos had posted claiming Dr. Luke to have raped Lady Gaga were "false statements of fact" that can lead to a defamation judgment.
The tweet
In 2014, Geragos challenged his 48,000 followers on Twitter to guess the name of the individual who Lady Gaga "claimed" had raped her.
When one of the lawyer's followers tweeted "Lukasz", Dr. Luke's first name, Geragos replied, "#bingo".
After sending his followers in a frenzy over his scandalous and shocking response, Geragos told TMZ that he wrote the tweet "because it's true".
Lady Gaga, the artist who's name is also involved, refuted the allegations that Luke had raped her and that the person she is referring to in an interview on The Howard Stern Show was not the controversial producer.
Dr. Luke, in return, sued Geragos, who at that time is working as Ke$ha's lawyer for the same lawsuit and claims against the music producer.
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The ruling
On the ruling, Judge Kraus determined that Geragos's statements were not just mere expressions of opinion or hyperbole.
However, it is "a clear assertion of fact that could be proven false" - an essential determination in any case where the difference between truth and lies is the difference between winning and losing.
Kraus wrote that Gerago's language contains a "precise meaning that is readily understood". Additionally, Kraus cited that the definition of "bingo"
is an "endorsement of a correct assertion".
The judge also highlighted that because Geragos had verbally confirmed to TMZ that his tweet is true, "there can be no clearer assertion of fact" than what he did.
What comes next?
This does not mean that Geragos is automatically liable for defamation, but it narrows the scope of what Dr. Luke must show to win his case at an upcoming court hearing.
To show that Geragos made false statements that caused harm, he now only has to show that the lawyer was legally responsible for making them.
He may have to show that Geragos did something with "actual malice" when he posted his tweets, which means he lied intentionally or did something with a lack of care for the truth.
Even though Dr. Luke won the key ruling, he still has a long way to go before he can finally win.
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