The latest blow to Tony Buzbee didn’t come from Jay-Z himself. It came from the lawyer who represents his company, and a federal judge in Galveston just told the Houston attorney he has to answer for what he posted about her online.
Judge Vincent Brown denied Buzbee’s motion to dismiss a $25 million defamation lawsuit filed by Marcy Croft, the Mississippi attorney who represents Roc Nation. The case now moves forward, and Buzbee has to defend himself in court instead of making it disappear on paper.
At the center of the suit are Buzbee’s social media posts. In them, he accused Croft of illegally soliciting his former clients to file lawsuits against him, a claim her team says amounts to falsely accusing her of criminal conduct.
Judge Brown found the court could “reasonably infer” that Buzbee made defamatory statements about Croft. That isn’t a final verdict, but it is a clear signal that the judge saw enough in her complaint to let it reach the next stage.
Croft is represented by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, one of the heavier hitters in American litigation. Her lawyers describe Buzbee’s posts as a coordinated campaign and are asking for at least $25 million in damages.
To understand why this fight got so personal, you have to go back to the case that started it. Buzbee filed a lawsuit on behalf of an anonymous woman who claimed she was drugged and raped by Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs at an afterparty following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards.
That story fell apart. The accuser later recanted, admitting she had never even met Jay-Z and saying Buzbee had convinced her to name him as a defendant regardless.
Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, has been on the offensive ever since. He filed his own defamation and malicious prosecution suit against Buzbee in New York federal court, arguing the attorney chased claims he knew were baseless in the hope of securing a settlement payout.
His team has also been working to expand that federal case with additional claims, which could push potential damages even higher. According to Reuters, the Galveston ruling suggests Buzbee’s legal strategy has backfired on him.
Buzbee does have a win of his own to point to. Earlier this year he declared victory in his appeal against Jay-Z’s extortion claims, and his social media posts show he isn’t shy about arguing his case in public.
That result looks a lot thinner now that he’s staring down a defamation case a judge refused to throw out. For Croft, the ruling is a chance to test Buzbee’s online accusations in front of a court.
For Buzbee, the fight is now spread across multiple courtrooms and multiple opponents. With the New York case still growing and Croft’s suit cleared to proceed, the next round of filings could get even more pointed.
