R. Kelly Sexual Assault Accuser Wins Civil Lawsuit Against the Singer

R. Kelly has lost a civil lawsuit in which he is accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl in the 1990s. The Chicago Sun-Times reports the presiding judge issued a default judgment after the disgraced singer failed to appear in Cook County court to face the complaint. The plaintiff’s legal team claimed Kelly and his lawyers have ignored court summonses since the suit was filed in late February, shortly after Kelly was arrested on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

“Robert Sylvester Kelly has failed and refused to file an appearance or answer to the Complaint even though [he is] required to do so,” the plaintiff’s attorney’s wrote in their motion for default judgment.

A spokesperson for the Cook County Sheriff’s office told the Sun-Times that Kelly was served while he was in county jail for unpaid child support. 

Kelly’s criminal defense attorney Steve Greenberg claimed he was not involved with the civil case. The singer’s publicist told the news outlet that Kelly’s team simply doesn’t care about the complaint: “The lawsuit means nothing to us,” Darrell Johnson said.

The woman is seeking $50,000 in damages. She is scheduled to appear in court next month to detail the alleged abuse. The judge will then decide how much money the accuser will receive from Kelly.

The plaintiff, who was identified as “H.W.” in court documents, is one of the accusers in Kelly’s ongoing sexual abuse case. The woman claims that after she was introduced to Kelly at her 16th birthday party, they had yearlong sexual relationship while she was still underage. The case involves a total of four women, three of whom were minors at the time of the alleged sexual abuse.