Legal

A jury in New York just awarded $1.68 billion to 40 women who accused director James Toback of sexual assault, psychological abuse, false imprisonment and coercion.

The money breaks down like this ... $280 million in compensatory damages and $1.4 billion in punitive damages.

Toback was sued in December 2022 by dozens of women who claimed he coerced them into meetings they believed were auditions of job interviews ... only for the meetings to allegedly turn sexual.

Tyreek Hill's wife, Keeta Hill, has filed for divorce from the NFL superstar ... one day after cops were called over a domestic dispute at their Miami-area home.

According to a Sunny Isles Beach Police Department incident report, obtained by TMZ Sports, cops say Keeta's mother, Alesia Vaccaro, told them she had called for emergency services Monday after she saw Tyreek throw a computer to the floor ... and then grab the couple's baby daughter.

Officers on the scene stated Keeta told them she and Tyreek had been arguing frequently lately, and Monday's quarrel was sparked by a comment that "he was not involved enough with their daughter."

Bryan Kohberger's autism diagnosis may come up at his murder trial, but the state won't argue it elevated his alleged crimes to an even more severe level ... because a judge just ruled they can't.

Kohberger appeared in court Wednesday, and the conversation turned to his recent diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder ... which the judge made clear should not be used by the state of Idaho during the sentencing phase -- if he's found guilty -- as an "aggravating factor." BK's attorney argued the diagnosis should keep him from being sentenced to death.

An "aggravating factor" is a factor in the case which makes the crime even more heinous ... such as premeditation, committing the act in front of a child, or showing a lack of remorse, for example. So the judge is basically granting the defense's request.

Prosecutors working the criminal case surrounding the deaths of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau are asking a judge to rule the brothers' BAC levels inadmissible as evidence.

Officials at the Salem County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey filed court documents on Wednesday ... arguing the Gaudreau bros' intoxication measurements should not be presented to the jury -- stating they're "irrelevant" to the charges levied against the Gaudreau's alleged killer, Sean Higgins.

The authorities stated in the docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, "Multiple witness accounts show that it was the defendant's actions and his actions alone that caused the collision that led to Matthew and John Gaudreau’s deaths."

11:15 AM PT -- Marieangela King tells TMZ ... "We had a beautiful 13-year journey, filled with memories I’ll always cherish. I know we’ll remain friends, and Elijah will always hold a special place in my heart. As we turn the page to this next chapter, we kindly ask for privacy and truly appreciate your understanding."

Elijah Blue Allman's wife has filed for divorce again ... a little more than a year after claiming Allman's mother, Cher, once orchestrated a kidnapping of him.

Marieangela King Allman filed for divorce Tuesday, citing the boilerplate irreconcilable differences.

She lists the date of separation as March 31 ... a little more than 12 years after the two married in December 2013.

Liam Payne's friend Roger Nores -- who was with the One Direction singer in his final chaotic days in Buenos Aires -- is taking legal steps to drop a lawsuit he filed against Liam's dad.

Roger beelined it to court Wednesday and filed new legal docs to dismiss his defamation lawsuit against Geoff Payne.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Roger says he wants to dismiss the suit without prejudice ... meaning it could be refiled in the future.

8:55 AM PT -- A spokesperson for The New York Times tells TMZ ... "Our comprehensive investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against Mr. Weinstein was rigorously reported over many months and based on on-the-record interviews, legal settlements paid to accusers and other documents. None of the facts in our coverage are in dispute. Mr. Weinstein acknowledged his misconduct in a statement that was published in full in The Times. He's since been criminally convicted of rape and sexual assault."

Harvey Weinstein is inserting himself into the Justin Baldoni-Blake Lively legal battle ... and blasting the New York Times for allegedly doing the same thing to him that the paper of record did to Baldoni.

The jailed Hollywood producer issued a scathing statement to TMZ about the NYT's role in the bitter legal fight between Justin and Blake over their 2024 movie, "It Ends with Us."

As you know, Blake and Justin starred in the film and Justin directed it, but it ended with both filing lawsuits against each other -- Blake accused Justin of sexual harassment and smearing her name ... Justin accused Blake and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of waging their own smear campaign to destroy his reputation.

Sada Baby is going into the mug shot hall of fame ... after striking this epic expression while being booked in jail on a felony drug charge.

The Detroit rapper posed for his mug shot during his booking process this week at the Macomb County Jail in Michigan, where he's being held on a drug charge stemming from a traffic stop ... according to FOX2 Detroit.

Sada Baby was pulled over in January for allegedly driving with tinted windows and an outstanding warrant. Cops say they searched his car and found "possible illegal contraband."

Hip Hop music industry legend Kevin Liles is preparing to try and dismiss a sexual assault lawsuit against him.

Kevin filed new legal docs Tuesday asking for permission to file a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed earlier this year by a woman who claimed he raped her way back in 2002 while he was an executive at Def Jam Recordings.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Kevin claims he will argue to dismiss the case on the grounds that the woman waited too long to file her claims and the statute of limitations on her claims has run.

The soccer coach charged with the murder of a California teenager also sexually assaulted the boy, according to prosecutors.

TMZ has learned the L.A. County D.A.'s Office now alleges Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino killed 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez while engaged in the "performance of a lewd and lascivious act."

Oscar's body was found last week in a ditch in Oxnard, CA ... and his family said his coach, Garcia-Aquino, was the last person seen with him.

4:38 PM PT -- Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman tells TMZ ... "In denying parole for Sirhan Sirhan ... Governor Newsom took into account his young age at the time of the crime (24), his lack of any prior arrests or convictions, his difficult upbringing in the war-torn Middle East, his success in getting college degrees and engaging in rehabilitation in prison, his risk score which was the lowest on the scale, his age (77 years old), his diminished health, and the amount of time in prison (54 years).

He continues ... "Notwithstanding those factors, Governor Newsom stated that his lack of full insight into actions and taking complete responsibility for them overweighed the other facts to show that he remained an unreasonable risk of danger to society. Sirhan Sirhan never made up a self-defense defense, never suborned or attempted to suborn perjury, and never lied repeatedly at trial under oath."

He concludes ... "In contrast, while the Menendez brothers have many of the same positive characteristics of Sirhan Sirhan in favor of parole or resentencing, they have never accepted responsibility for lying about their self-defense defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury concerning their fabrications of stories of their father violently raping Lyle's girlfriend, their mother trying to poison the family, and their friend supposedly giving them a handgun the day before the murders. As a result, if Sirhan remains an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety, then so too do the Menendez brothers -- who have never come fully clean of their lies in over 30 years -- constitute an unreasonable risk of danger to the community."

Sirhan Sirhan's lawyer is calling out Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman ... saying the new D.A. is getting some bad information about RFK's alleged assassin.

Hochman's been trying to use the Sirhan case to keep the Menendez Brothers behind bars in their bid for freedom ... but Sirhan's attorney tells us Hochman is confused about some basic facts.

Angela Berry, who represents Sirhan, tells TMZ ... Hochman is pushing a common misperception about Sirhan when he says Sirhan admitted to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and then later claimed his innocence, and she says Hochman is making an unfair comparison to Erik and Lyle.

An Ohio teacher who was convicted of having sex with an underage student has accused her estranged husband of "extreme cruelty" amid their divorce, TMZ has learned.

Emily Nutley pled guilty Monday to two counts of sexual battery after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a student at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati ... and her plea comes in the middle of her messy divorce.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Emily's husband, Jonathan, filed for divorce in November 2024 ... only weeks after prosecutors indicted her for having a sexual relationship with a teenage student.

Xavier Worthy and his ex-fiancée, Tia Jones, are dropping their legal cases against one another ... after reaching an agreement on Tuesday.

TMZ Sports has learned ... as part of the deal the two struck, the Kansas City Chiefs star is rescinding his application for a protective order as well as the lawsuit he filed against Jones late last month.

In exchange, Jones is also pulling back her application for the permanent protective order she had been seeking against Worthy.

British actor and comedian Russell Brand hasn't lost his audience in the wake of troubling accusations about his personal and professional life ... because he's set to speak at a college in Florida this upcoming Saturday, even after he's been charged with sexual assault in London and has been sued for alleged behavior on a movie set in New York.

Brand is lined up to appear as a guest speaker at New College of Florida in Sarasota as part of their Socratic Stage series, which is meant to discuss complex and pressing social and political issues.

New College confirmed to TMZ ... Brand will speak at the event titled, "Thinking without Permission: A Conversation with Russell Brand on Free Speech, Censorship, and Cultural Power," part of its Spring 2025 series, scheduled April 12.

Tony Buzbee is taking legal steps to try to dismiss a Jay-Z lawsuit against him, claiming they struck a deal and Jay reneged -- but Jay's camp says Buzbee is full of it.

Buzbee, the Texas lawyer famous for representing 120 alleged Diddy victims, filed new legal docs Monday to dismiss the defamation lawsuit Jay-Z filed against him in Alabama.

Tony was representing the Jane Doe who claimed Jay-Z and Diddy raped her in New York back in 2000. She ultimately dropped the rape lawsuit ... and Jay-Z then sued her and Buzbee in Alabama, where she lives, over bringing the case in the first place.

Erik and Lyle Menendez are firing back at Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman ... telling him it's stupid to compare them to Sirhan Sirhan because they actually admitted to killing their parents.

The Menendez Brothers distance themselves from RFK's assassin in new legal docs where they push back on Hochman's motion to withdraw his predecessor’s motion to resentence them.

Hochman's on the record saying Erik and Lyle should not gain their freedom, comparing their case to the denial of parole for Sirhan ... but the brothers say there's no way to seriously put them on the same plane as Sirhan.