R. Kelly accuser wins default judgment against the embattled singer in civil case

Chicago judge enters default ruling against the singer after he did not respond to woman’s lawsuit and missed the court hearing.

R. Kelly skips hearing and loses the case to accuser by default.

Kia Morgan-Smith

Apr 25, 2019

[griojw id=”2GPoWRbd” playerid=”GqX43ZoG”]

A woman who filed a lawsuit against R. Kelly, alleging she was molested when she was 16 years old by the singer, won a default judgment in a Chicago court after he failed to show up for the civil case.

The woman is also one of the accusers named in the lawsuit that resulted in Kelly’s arrest in February on a 10-count sexual abuse charge, The Guardian reports. The woman filed the civil case a day before the Cook County prosecutors charged the disgraced R&B singer.

—John William King executed by lethal injection for brutal killing of James Byrd Jr.—

Three other women are named in the criminal suit, who all alleged that Kelly had sex with them as minors, said the woman’s lawyer, Jeffrey Deutschman. The woman is identified as “HW” in criminal court filings.

Kelly did not respond nor did he show up for the civil hearing, which prompted the judge Moira Johnson to enter the default judgment in the woman’s favor, according to court records.

The judge will hear from the woman at an upcoming hearing before deciding what monetary damages she will award.

Steve Greenberg, Kelly’s criminal defense attorney denied that his client was involved in the civil litigation.

The embattled R&B singer who has been dogged by allegations of sexually abusing underage girls for years has been charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of minors.

—Partial body cam footage released from police shooting of unarmed Black couple near Yale—

Nine of the ten counts against Kelly, 52, involve alleged victims who at least age 13 but no older than 17 years old the 36-pages indictment says. In the indictment, there are four alleged victims. One is linked to three different counts. The incidents occurred on separate occasions between 1998 and 2010. In the State of Illinois, the statute of limitations on sexual abuse against minors can extend as long as 20 years.

According to reports, as many as a dozen accusers came forward with the accusations against the singer.