Jimmie Allen has been judged liable for sexually assaulting and secretly filming a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2022, accusations the once-rising country star denied but forfeited his right to defend by flouting multiple court-imposed deadlines and orders in the lawsuit.
A Monday (Aug. 18) ruling in Tennessee federal court holds Allen liable by default for battery, assault, invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress. The civil claims had been scheduled to go to trial this summer, but a pattern of disobedience by Allen and his lawyers earned them a premature judgment instead.
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“The defendants throughout have failed to comply with case management discovery deadlines and even failed to comply with specific orders of this court,” wrote Judge Aleta A. Trauger. “For these reasons, the plaintiff’s motion for sanctions and judgment against defendants Jimmie Allen and Aadyn’s Dad Touring Inc. is granted.”
Aadyn’s Dad Touring is the company that employed Allen’s bodyguard, Charles Hurd, who allegedly helped the singer pursue the anonymous woman at the center of the case. Judge Trauger says the plaintiff’s lawyers can now put in a request for financial damages from both Allen and the touring company.
The case is one of two civil sexual assault lawsuits brought against Allen in 2023, derailing the singer’s promising career after a run of No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. He was subsequently dropped by his label, BBR Music Group, as well as his booking agency, publicist and management company.
The first lawsuit accused Allen of sexually harassing and abusing his day-to-day manager over a period of 18 months from 2020 and 2022. Allen denied the claims and countersued his ex-manager for defamation; that case was settled in 2024.
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The second lawsuit brought against Allen is the one at issue in Monday’s ruling. That case, filed by a woman going by the pseudonym Jane Doe 2, says she met Allen on a flight to Nashville in May 2022 and began to regularly text and FaceTime with the singer.
Doe claims she met up with Allen in Las Vegas the following July. While the two had consensual sex, the woman says Allen ejaculated inside her without a condom despite her explicit and repeated protests against this.
After Allen allegedly “passed out” following sex, Doe says she discovered that he had surreptitiously set up his cellphone to record the entire encounter without her knowledge.
Allen denied assaulting Doe and said she consented to the video recording, countersuing her as well. But things didn’t go so smoothly for Allen as the litigation progressed, with the singer cycling through various lawyers and blowing past deadlines for producing evidence and sitting for a deposition.
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In December, Judge Trauger axed Allen’s counterclaim as a penalty for his failure to produce the cellphone used to record the sexual encounter. And in March, he was ordered to pay nearly $6,000 to Doe’s lawyers for canceling a mediation session at the last minute.
The final straw came earlier this summer when, with the case’s June trial date fast approaching, Allen still hadn’t paid that $6,000 sum or hired a new local Tennessee lawyer to replace yet another attorney who was leaving his team. Doe’s counsel moved for default judgment in May, saying Allen had already been given his fair share of warnings.
“There are no alternative sanctions to judgment that this court has not already attempted — e.g., extensions, discovery orders, the payment of costs, and the replacement of counsel,” wrote Doe’s attorney Elizabeth Fegan. “There is no reason to believe that entering similar orders would magically now result in defendants’ compliance.”
Allen’s lawyers did not respond to the default judgment request, leading Judge Trauger to cancel the trial date and grant Doe’s motion on Monday. In a comment to Billboard, Fegan says, “We are pleased that the court entered judgment in her favor and look forward to proving her damages.”
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“Jimmie Allen’s abuse has had a profound impact on Jane Doe 2,” adds Fegan. “The court’s ruling makes clear that Allen cannot simply ignore the serious consequences of his actions.”
Allen’s reps did not return requests for comment.
The news comes as Allen has been attempting to mount a country comeback. On Aug. 6, he released his first new song, “Beer 99,” to the country format since 2023 and quickly followed up on Tuesday (Aug. 12) with “Country Boys Never Learn.”
Allen has also announced a 14-city tour that kicks off Sept. 5 in Dallas and concludes Nov. 29 in Rochester, N.H.
