Updated: 3/31 at 10:48 PM PST
Nicki Minaj's attorney has requested a 1-week extension in reply papers on his request for sanctions. Are we shocked?
Updated 2/20 At 12:21 AM PST
I want to apologize for my lateness in updating this case. I needed a break from reading court documents. But now I am back, and I want to address the January 31st filing by Tyrone Blackburn.
I got confirmation that Nicki Minaj and her attorney, Judd Burstein, are pursuing sanctions against Tyrone Blackburn but not his former co-counsel, Steven Gordon.
In Blackburn's Jan. 31st filing, he made some damning allegation against Gordon that not only sheds more light as to why Jennifer fired him but why Burstein may have decided to leave Gordon out of his request for sanctions.
As it was reported, Gordon had a working history with Burstein and that seems to have worked against Jennifer Hough. According to Blackburn's letter, Burstein and Gordon started having private conversations with each other minute Gordon joined the case. While I doubt Blackburn knows everything discussed by the two attorneys, Blackburn does seem to know that they discussed Hough's pursuit of a default judgment and none of what Burstein told Gordon was shared with any of his co-counsels. That is a no-no.
I have to wonder if Gordon was a mole?
As for the sanctions. I was told by Blackburn that those will not be filed. So, we can't look that stuff up on Pacer, but he did confirm that they did send in the request.
I assume the lawsuit in California will not happen until this sanction stuff is over with.
Blackburn did file an amended motion for default judgment against Kenneth Petty since Jennifer's lawsuit pertaining to the rape in NY is still open.
Updated: 1/29 at 10:43 AM PST
We have a briefing schedule update.
Judd Burstein and Tyrone Blackburn have agreed to a briefing schedule on Burstein's proposed motion for sanctions. Interestingly, Burstein, who huffed and puffed about sanctioning everyone on Hough's team, has now had a change of heart and decided not to seek sanctions against Steven Gordon.
If you recall, Gordon wrote a compelling letter about the bully tactics used by Burstein in his attempt to provide Nicki Minaj with a zealous defense. Things got so bad that Gordon admitted he considered withdrawing from the case before being terminated by Blackburn.
It appears Burstein has decided he does not want to risk opening the door for sanctions on himself, so now we are left with Judd "Rambo" Burstein vs. TRY-rone Blackburn. The schedule is as follows:
Feb. 2nd - Motion For Sanctions (Burstein)
Mar. 25th - Answer the Motion For Sanctions (Blackburn)
Apr. 3rd - Reply (Burstein)
This will go all the way until April...oh, boy.
To clear up a false narrative, the courts have NOT sanctioned Tyrone Blackburn. What is true is that Burstein is trying to get him sanctioned for unspecified reasons at this time. We will find out on Feb. 2nd what Burstein feels are sanctionable actions by Blackburn.
Also, if the courts approve sanctions against Blackburn, that does not mean Jennifer Hough did anything wrong. That just means Blackburn crossed a line in his attempt to fight for his client. Burstein is very familiar with straddling the lines for his clients.
Speaking of Tyrone..even though the Judge said he did not want to hear one more noun or verb from the lawyers unless it was about a schedule, Tyrone decided he had to give another declaration.
I could be missing something, but it seems like this letter by Blackburn was not only not needed but against what the Judge requested. This Judge has already shown hesitancy in making rulings; why risk pissing him off?
I can't with Tyrone...
Updated: 1/27 at 11:45 PM PST
There have been some significant updates to this lawsuit.
1- Jennifer Hough voluntarily dismissed her 5th and 7th causes of action against Kenneth Petty and only to the extent it relates to conduct from 2018 or later.
2- Steven Gordon wrote a letter alerting the judge that Tyrone Blackburn and Jennifer Hough TERMINATED him over disagreements about legal strategy going forward.
The judge has ordered a Zoom meeting on Jan. 31st to discuss this matter.
As far as Gordon being fired, it looks messy, but I believe it is for the best in the long run. I have always argued that it appears that Gordon and Blackburn were at the same level of experience, and that was not good for Jennifer. She needs a more experienced lawyer to pair with Blackburn.
Now, it does concern me that they could not agree on a strategy. What didn't Gordon like about Tyrone's strategy? What's done is done, but it must be asked.
Hopefully, Tyrone picks an experienced pitbull in a skirt to work with him in California.
Now, I did get some clarification from Tyrone about the dropped counts. He told me,
"The reason it was dropped is that you cannot sue someone in two courts on the same counts dealing with the same facts. Those counts will be refiled against Kenny in Cali along with the counts against Nicki and one other individual."
So, not only does Blackburn plan to refile, but he plans to add a defendant👀👀👀👀👀.
He added that all the stuff dealing with the 1994 rape would remain with the NY courts.
Now, the question is, will Nicki Minaj just set up a time to be served, or will she hide out again?
If Nicki tries to play games, I would serve her publicly; preferably when performing "Do We Have A Problem?" so she knows she has one.
Update: 1/24 at 11:38 PM PST
Steven Gordon shared the email Judd Burstein sent mentioning his wife. Judd Burstein calls the allegations made against him misleading. The judge orders the two sides to come up with a briefing schedule and to not write anything else regarding this matter, LOL!
Updated: 1/23 at 8:01 PM PST
In the latest update of Hough vs. Petty, Steven Gordon and Tyrone Blackburn responded to the huff and puff of "sanctions" by Judd Burstein, and exposed some troubling behavior by the high-profile attorney.
Below is my summary, along with actual court documents.
Steve Gordon:
Gordon starts off his response to Burstein's motion for sanctions by pointing out that since he joined Hough's team, Burstein has emailed him "5 purported and frivolous motions for sanctions" and goes on to describe Burstein's as using "unsavory, harassing, and threatening tactics" against Hough's team.
Gordon continues by pointing out that Burstein has failed to clearly state the grounds for which he plans to file sanctions. Also, how these accusations open Jennifer up to more threats from Nicki Minaj's STANs and potentially harms the reputation of Blackburn and himself.
MAKK BALLER
Next, he argues it was "objectively reasonable" to allege that Nicki Minaj was a member of the Makk Baller Brims Bloods and that threats were made against Jennifer's life based on:
Exhibit "A" shows Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty throwing up the Makk Baller gang sign.
"Black" posting a photo with two guns circled
To make Gordon's argument stronger, I would have liked to see him include a declaration by a NY gang expert stating that the hand signs thrown up by OTM and KP are, in fact, Makk Baller gang signs. We do not need 100 more arguments over what those hand signals mean.
NEW YORK JURISDICTION
Gordon moves on to address the jurisdiction issue. He points out "several objectionable reasonable reasons" why Blackburn would believe NY had jurisdiction over OTM.
KP noted he is a resident of NY
KP has property in NY
Nicki Minaj is considered a "New York" based "rapper" (why he shade Nicki like that, lol)
Not the first time she has been sued in NY
After addressing Burstein's motion, Gordon then addresses Burstein's tactics as a lawyer. Read below:
Gordon claims that Burstein not only made attacks on himself and Blackburn but his WIFE! Furthermore, Gordon revealed that Burstein's actions almost forced him to withdraw from this case.
JUDD BURSTEIN:
Judd "Rambo" Burstein, who loves racking up those lawyer fees by writing several page responses, decided to save Nicki Minaj some money and only responded in a one-page letter. That should tell you all you need to know.
Burstein wants the judge to decide on a briefing schedule for his purposed sanctions.
Enter Tyrone Blackburn, who then addressed the scheduling conflict that Burstein complained about and told the judge:
"Throughout these proceedings, Mr. Burstein has taken residency in the sewers of the legal profession. He has behaved antithetical to the model rules of professional conduct. But this should come as no surprise since he has been on the receiving end of over ten sanction motions dating back to the early 1990s and as recent as 2018."
Blackburn then goes on to expose how Burstein went "scrummaging" through Youtube comments posted by Gordon's wife.
WHEW!
To read the emails between the lawyers, please see the download below.
These allegations do not surprise after looking up Burstein. There are two incidents I want to highlight:
1 - Judd Burstein Sued In $70 Million Malpractice Lawsuit.
This lawsuit caught my attention because it involves Burstein missing a filing deadline. I do not believe the excuse given by Nicki Minaj as to why she missed her deadline to respond to Jennifer Hough and after reading this it gives more weight to Blackburn's claims that they purposely missed the deadline???
2 - In the 90s, a judge was so disgusted by Burstein's behavior that he ordered Mr. Burstein to pay a $50K sanction fine. This was because Burstein was so upset that opposing counsel would not settle that he wrote him a letter threatening to "tarnish" his reputation and subject the lawyer to the "legal equivalent to a proctology exam." You can read below the other things Burstein allegedly did in just ONE case.
Now, that sanction was overturned because there was concern about the "delicate task that trial lawyers have of representing their clients zealously while staying within the bounds of proper behavior." However, the appeals board did note that Burstein's behavior was: 'reflective of a general decline in the decorum level of even polite public discourse.''
Which is funny considering the big deal he made about Tyrone not wanting to give him an extension, LOL.
Can't wait for this lawsuit to hit Cali.
Updated: 1/20 at 12:58 PM PST
Enter Nicki Minaj...again.
Even though Kenneth Petty had a hearing, it quickly became all about Nicki Minaj after it was revealed that Jennifer Hough plans to refile her lawsuit against Nicki in California. Now, I had heard that Jennifer dismissed her case due to jurisdiction issues, so it seems that Lil birdie was correct.
Well, upon hearing this, Nicki Minaj's attorney decides to file his much talked about sanction against Jennifer Hough/Tyrone Blackburn and wants a motion schedule approved by this judge that does not do much. Read below...
I have no idea what happened with Kenneth because the judge went private at one point in the Zoom conference. So...when PACER updates, I will update.
I wonder if Nicki will push back any music plans she had or will she drop something in Q1.
Updated: 1/18 at 6:38 PM PST
Motion 47 to allow 2 lawyers to withdraw from Jennifer Hough's team was granted.
I know this is tiny to read...LOL.
FCK'N UP THE BRAND
While Jennifer Hough has voluntarily dismissed her lawsuit against Nicki Minaj, she is still going after her attacker, Kenneth Petty. Even though he is not a celebrity or a female rapper, I will still follow this case because his defense is being funded by a female rapper.
Nicki Minaj's lawyer did come out to the press, "It is just the beginning of Nicki's and my efforts to make you pay for your disgraceful conduct with both money and, if the Court recommends it, disciplinary sanctions."
All the anger seems to be towards Tyrone Blackburn, not Jennifer Hough. We will be watching if this was just huff'n and puff'n for the media or will Blackburn be in some hot water.
The first update is that two law firms have removed themselves from Jennifer's case.
Say Sumthin, Tap The Heart, and Share...Thanks