Judge Rules Jay Z's Defamation Lawsuit Against Tony Buzbee Can Proceed to Trial

Last week Jay Z confirmed he was moving forward with his defamation of character lawsuit against Houston attorney, Tony Buzbee, after Buzbee named Jay in a lawsuit filed against Bad Boy Entertainment CEO, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, accusing them of rxping a minor 20 years ago, in a case that was eventually tossed out [click here if you missed that].

Now a judge's tentative ruling will allow Jay's defamation lawsuit to go to trial...

From Rolling Stone

A Los Angeles judge signaled Tuesday that Jay-Z’s defamation claim against high-profile attorney Tony Buzbee will overcome a legal challenge and be allowed to proceed to trial. In a tentative ruling and courtroom comments during a lengthy hearing, Judge Mark H. Epstein said he believed the question of whether Buzbee acted recklessly and with actual malice when he named Jay-Z as a defendant in a rape lawsuit last December had enough merit to move ahead.

The same judge also said he was leaning toward dismissing the rapper’s related extortion claim against Buzbee. At the end of the two-hour hearing, Judge Epstein declined to make a final ruling, saying he needed more time to digest the oral arguments from lawyers on both sides.