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\n\tA California appeals court has rejected Jay-Z<\/a>\u2018s attempt to revive his extortion and defamation lawsuit <\/a>against the Texas lawyer who filed the stunning, since-dismissed complaint accusing the music mogul of raping a 13-year-old girl.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a 24-page ruling obtained by Rolling Stone<\/em>, the appellate court said attorney Tony Buzbee<\/a> did not act with malice when he briefly represented the woman who accused Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, of sexually assaulting her alongside Sean Combs<\/a> at an afterparty for the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe record contains no evidence Buzbee accused Carter of raping Jane Doe while knowing those statements to be false or with reckless disregard as to whether they were true. To the contrary, Buzbee submitted declarations showing his firm\u2019s and [a referral firm\u2019s] investigations led him to subjectively believe in the truth of the accusations,\u201d Associate Justice Anne Richardson wrote in the unanimous\u00a0ruling from California\u2019s Second Appellate District.<\/p>\n \n\tThe ruling also found that Buzbee was protected by the litigation privilege when he sent a demand letter to Carter before he named the \u201cEmpire State of Mind\u201d rapper as a defendant in Jane Doe\u2019s lawsuit. \u201cBuzbee\u2019s and Jane Doe\u2019s declarations indicated litigation was genuinely contemplated in good faith. And Jane Doe sued Carter after he declined to mediate,\u201d the ruling states.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSending a basic demand letter prior to filing suit is not and will never be \u2018extortion,\u2019\u201d Buzbee said in a statement to Rolling Stone<\/em> on Thursday. \u201cThe plaintiff distorted the truth and twisted facts. I expected the case to be dismissed and now that it has been, I look forward to recovering my every penny of my fees and expenses.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAttempts to reach Carter\u2019s high-powered lawyer, Alex Spiro, were not immediately successful.<\/p>\n \n\tCarter first sued Buzbee in late 2024, alleging that the prominent Houston lawyer knew he was advancing false claims when he filed a lawsuit accusing Carter of raping Jane Doe with Combs. Carter said Buzbee had sent him two demand letters in early November 2024 seeking money to resolve the allegations privately. Weeks later, after Carter declined to engage, Buzbee publicly identified him as the previously unnamed John Doe co-defendant in Jane Doe\u2019s lawsuit, according to Carter.<\/p>\n