Legal

Former 'Survivor' contestant Jaime Dugan has vanished with her 16-year-old son ... and authorities are now reportedly trying to track them down.

Dugan -- who competed on "Survivor: China" -- allegedly failed to return her son, Harper Huffman, to his father after a weekend visit on Aug. 30 ... and the pair haven't been seen since, according the Daily Mail.

A South Carolina judge later found Dugan in contempt, ordered her immediate arrest and declared Harper "missing and endangered."

Chris Brown’s ex and baby mama, Diamond Brown, claims the singer is making threats toward her new boyfriends ... this according to docs filed in their bitter child support war.

In court docs obtained by TMZ, Diamond claims the singer has engaged in "disturbing behavior."

Diamond said her relationship with Chris ended two years ago. She said despite Chris having a new partner, who he had a baby with, he gets "extremely angry with me when I have dated other men since our break up."

One of the men accused in the Cornell gang rape lawsuit wants New York Attorney General Letitia James off the case ... arguing she's already picked a side.

Attorney Andrew Miltenberg, who represents one of the 7 fraternity brothers accused in the civil suit, is calling on James to recuse herself from the reopened criminal investigation after she posted a message supporting the accuser.

James wrote that what Jane Doe had "been forced to endure" was "horrific and unacceptable," adding ... "we stand with you."

Some of the frat boys accused in a lawsuit of gang raping a Cornell University student went into "damage control" to try to save their reputations and futures at the Ivy League college, according to ABC News. 

ABC reporters recently reviewed text messages, phone records, and other documents connected to the alleged October 2024 sexual assault of the now-former Cornell student by 7 young men at Chi Phi fraternity house. 

Last month, the ex-student filed her lawsuit against the 7 frat brothers, claiming they drugged her with ketamine and then gang raped her during a night of drug and alcohol debauchery. 

An attorney representing Christa Pike has said that his client may never fully recover from her botched execution ... and claims that her hospital room is under guard as she remains on a ventilator.

Stephen Ferrell revealed to Jake Tapper on CNN Sunday that Pike is still hospitalized and "critically ill."

Ferrell said ... "She is guarded. I'm not sure who may have seen her. I know I have not seen her. The state of Tennessee has not yet said whether it will ultimately try to execute her again."

The punishments that Cornell University gave to the 7 Chi Phi frat brothers accused of gang rape ranged from immediate expulsion ... to writing a self-reflection essay.

A three-member Title IX panel conducted closed proceedings with the accused over Zoom for nearly two weeks before punishments were doled out ... the New York Times reported.

The harshest punishments were reserved for Matthew Ingalls and Jonathan Newell -- who were both expelled.

The attorney representing the Jane Doe accusing 7 members of the Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell University of drugging and sexually assaulting her is claiming that evidence could have been dumped in a lake for all he knows ... and that there's more video and pics of the alleged gang rape.

Sitting down with CNN's Jake Tapper Sunday ... lawyer Thomas Giuffra raised concerns that crucial evidence -- including additional videos and photos -- was lost because a search warrant was never executed by authorities.

Giuffra said ... "They would have grabbed every single one of these phones of these guys. They would have downloaded all this material. I'm confident, knowing this day and age and the group that we're dealing with, that there were other photos, there were videos."

Cornell University's president delivered a message to students in the wake of accusations that 7 Chi Phi frat brothers allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted a woman ... and personally addressed Jane Doe's account.

In an 8-minute video shared to the university statements page ... Michael Kotlikoff admitted that this had been "one of the most difficult weeks in our history."

Kotlikoff added ... "What happened to Jane Doe in 2024 is deeply disturbing and will weigh heavily on our community for years to come. My heart aches when I think of what she experienced."

Jada Pinkett Smith wants Will Smith's former friend, who is suing the actress and claiming she threatened him, to submit to a mental exam ... TMZ has learned.

According to court docs, obtained by TMZ, Jada is asking the judge to give her permission to have Bilaal Salaam sit for a lengthy mental exam to test the claims he made in his lawsuit about suffering emotional distress due to her alleged conduct.

As we've previously reported ... Bilaal is seeking $3 million in damages, claiming Jada threatened him and inflicted severe emotional distress.

Jaime King is officially back on the market ... after a judge signed off on her divorce from her now-former husband, Austin Sosa.

According to court docs, obtained by TMZ ... a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge entered the final judgment on Friday.

The court docs show that both parties are now restored to their status as single people ... but jurisdiction was reserved on the issue of spousal support for King.

One of the men being sued over an alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell University sued the college last March over the consequences he was hit with for the incident, TMZ has learned, and just days ago he lost his case.

John Doe sued Cornell over the investigation conducted into the alleged rape that took place on October 19, 2024, at the Chi Phi fraternity house.

According to legal docs, Doe says he received the Snapchat message -- "Free P***y" -- and he and one other frat brother went to the room ... he says because they were unsure if the message was a joke or not.

He also says he went there to get a new vape. He says "By no means were we going there to get free p***y." He says when they arrived "Everybody in there seemed fine."

Olivia Dean's got a copyright fight swirling around one of her songs ... with Bill Withers' publisher claiming her track sounds a little too much like his timeless classic, "Just the Two of Us."

According to a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Mattie Music Group -- which says it owns rights to the Withers classic -- is suing Capitol Records, Universal Music Group, Sony Publishing and Kobalt Music Publishing for copyright infringement.

The song at the center of it all is Olivia's "I've Seen It." The publisher claims her track copied significant portions of "Just the Two of Us" -- specifically, its distinctive melody.

Future's brother, FBG Casino, cut a plea deal in his fentanyl case ... after federal agents said they found 17 kilos worth of fentanyl in an Airbnb-turned-stash house.

FBG -- real name Rico Deville Buice -- pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to possess fentanyl with intent to distribute.

While the judge in the case has yet to sentence him ... the plea deal notes the mandatory minimum for the offense is 10 years -- with the maximum sentence being life in prison and up to a $10 million fine.

Christa Pike experienced extreme pain during her botched execution in Tennessee because the drug administered to her by the state failed to knock her out and may have caused her to jerk around and foam at the mouth, according to a death penalty expert.

Deborah Denno, a 30-year professor at Fordham Law School whose articles on capital punishment have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, tells TMZ ... the whole objective in putting someone to death is to make sure the prisoner does not feel any pain during the execution -- and Tennessee failed big time on that front concerning Pike. 

In her case, Pike was administered two doses of Pentobarbital -- a barbiturate that acts as a central nervous depressant -- to carry out the state's lethal injection mandate, Denno tells us.

Christa Pike was unconscious more than a day after officials screwed up her execution ... and she's not even breathing on her own, her lawyers say.

The convicted killer's legal team filed documents Friday asking a judge to preserve all evidence related to the botched execution ... and noted that, as of the night of October 1, Pike was "intubated, on a ventilator, and remains unconscious."

Her attorneys say her arms were swollen, burned, and blistered ... and they say hospital staff are working furiously to save her life and clear the pentobarbital from her system.

Halle Berry's ex-husband Olivier Martinez worries about their son spending time with Halle because she has "impulse control" and "anger management" issues ... at least according to Olivier's lawyer.

Patrick Baghdaserians joined us on "TMZ Live" Friday, and we asked about Olivier filing a restraining order against Halle.

Olivier's attorney stresses this isn't a vindictive measure by a bitter ex -- this is all about the welfare of their child, 12-year-old Maceo.