Flatley allowed to take blackmail case to trial
Riverdance star Michael Flatley’s £55.5m (€81m) extortion and defamation case against a woman who claimed he had raped her can proceed to trial, the California Supreme Court has ruled.
Flatley’s lawsuit against Tyna Marie Robertson was triggered by a January 2003 letter he received from the woman’s lawyer claiming he raped her in a Las Vegas hotel the year before.
In the letter and on subsequent phone calls, Robertson’s lawyer Dean Mauro threatened to file a sexual assault lawsuit unless the Irish dancer agreed to a “seven figure” settlement, according to court papers.
Police declined to press criminal charges and Flatley, 48, said the sex was consensual.
Robertson then filed an £18m (€26.4m) civil sexual assault suit in Illinois, but it was later dismissed. Flatley countered with a lawsuit claiming extortion, fraud and defamation.
Lawyers for Robertson and Mauro argued that the lawsuit brought by Flatley should be thrown out because the letter was a settlement offer and was protected by the constitutional right to free speech.
But the state Supreme Court rejected the argument.
“Mauro’s communications constituted criminal extortion as a matter of law and, as such, were unprotected by constitutional guarantees of free speech or petition,” the six-member panel wrote.
Flatley’s Los Angeles-based lawyer, Bert Fields, said the decision would help celebrities who were sometimes the target of false allegations.
“Celebrities are so frequently targeted with claims that they’ve committed some kind of misconduct, usually of a sexual nature,” Fields said. “Because of the Supreme Court ruling, we can make these people go to trial and prove our case.”
Flatley co-starred in the hugely successful Irish dance spectacle Riverdance and went on to create his own shows, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames and Celtic Tiger.
