R. Kelly’s Lawyers Say His Learning Disability Was a Factor in His Latest Legal Loss

R. Kelly‘s legal team is fighting a default judgment granted to one of his alleged victims. The lawyers’ latest argument? The embattled singer can’t really read.

Earlier this week, Kelly lost a civil lawsuit in which he was accused of sexually abusing an underage girl in the late 1990s. The 52-year-old entertainer failed to respond to the lawsuit and appear in court, which led a Cook County judge to issue a default judgment for the plaintiff identified as “H.W.” in legal documents.

Days after the judge announced the decision, Kelly’s civil attorney Brian Nix told TMZ his client was not in the right state of mind at the time he was served in the civil case. 

“R. Kelly was served while incarcerated on the child support case and he was overwhelmed by the experience of being in jail,” Nix told the outlet. “[Being overwhelmed] coupled with Mr. Kelly not being cognizant of what the motion fully meant led to him missing the hearing. I had no idea he had been served.”

TMZ reports Kelly’s other attorneys, Zaid Abdallah and Raed Shalabi, are now claiming the singer’s “learning disability” prevented him from reading the court documents and taking proper action. 

“[Kelly] suffers from a learning disability that adversely affects his ability to read,” legal documents state, “… in essence he cannot.”

A damages hearing for the case will take place May 8. Kelly’s attorneys are asking that the default judgment be set aside so that they can fight the plaintiff’s claims.