The legal battle between Motown legend Smokey Robinson and his accusers escalated this week as attorneys for six plaintiffs filed four new motions seeking judicial intervention. The filings accuse the 86-year-old singer of deliberately stalling the discovery process through evasive responses and improperly using his Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering routine questions in the civil case.
John Harris, attorney representing Jane Does 1 through 4, told the court that Robinson and his wife, Frances, have provided incomplete discovery responses over several months, forcing repeated delays. “The court’s intervention is now necessary to compel transparency and allow the alleged victims to move forward,” Harris said in the filings.
At the heart of the new motions is a fundamental disagreement about how the case should proceed. Harris contends that Robinson has been invoking the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination in response to routine questions, a tactic he argues improperly obstructs the civil litigation process.
Meanwhile, Harris emphasizes that all six accusers have fully cooperated. Some have sat for depositions as many as four times, enduring what he describes as intrusive questioning and retaliatory accusations. The plaintiffs include Jane Does 1 through 5 and John Doe 1, a male former employee who alleges Robinson sexually harassed him while he performed auto detailing work at the couple’s home.
Robinson’s legal team paints an entirely different picture. Attorney Christopher Frost dismissed the new motions as routine litigation tactics being amplified for media attention, noting their timing coincides with Robinson’s recently announced tour dates.
“We have already explained in the Robinsons’ lawsuit against this group for defamation, civil conspiracy and elder abuse that, all along, this has been an organized, avaricious campaign to extract money from an 86-year-old legend,” Frost previously stated when two additional accusers joined the case.
Frost claims it is the plaintiffs who have obstructed progress, forcing his team to repeatedly seek court intervention for depositions, cell phone imaging, and transmission of transcripts to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office.
The tension traces back to Robinson’s aggressive legal response last May. Days after four former housekeepers sued him for sexual battery and labor violations, Robinson fired back with a $500 million countersuit against the accusers and their attorneys, alleging defamation, false light, financial elder abuse, and invasion of privacy.
Attorneys Harris and Herbert Hayden called the countersuit “nothing more than an attempt to silence and intimidate the survivors of Mr. Robinson’s sexual battery and assault. It is a baseless and vindictive legal maneuver designed to re-victimize, shift blame and discourage others from coming forward”.
What began as a lawsuit from four Jane Does has grown to include six plaintiffs. John Doe 1, who worked for the Robinsons beginning in 2013, alleges the singer would emerge in his underwear while he worked, touch himself inappropriately, and on one occasion attempted to force John Doe’s hand onto his genitals.
Jane Doe 5, a housekeeper from 2005 to 2011, claims Robinson summoned her to the bathroom while showering on more than ten occasions, attempted to force her hand onto his private parts, and regularly walked around the house naked, rubbing his elbow against her chest. She alleges the harassment became so traumatizing she underwent breast reduction surgery in February 2015.
Both new accusers claim Frances Robinson knew of her husband’s behavior and failed to intervene, while subjecting them to verbal abuse and “ethnically pejorative language”.
Adding pressure, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Bureau is actively investigating criminal allegations against Robinson. Robinson’s attorney has welcomed the investigation, stating, “We are aware that a police report has now been filed by the Plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit. We welcome that investigation, because exposure to the truth is a powerful thing” .
Robinson has consistently denied all allegations. His only public comment came shortly after the initial lawsuit, when he told the Daily Mail: “I am appalled”.
A judge has not yet ruled on the four discovery motions. The court’s response will likely determine whether the case accelerates or remains mired in procedural battles. For now, both sides remain locked in a war of accusations, each claiming the other is the true obstacle to justice.
