R. Kelly has lost a lawsuit by default after failing to turn up to a scheduled court appearance. The suit was filed by one of four alleged victims behind the ten aggravated criminal sexual abuse claims against the singer; she claims that Kelly tried to initiate a sexual relationship with her in 1998 when she was just 16-years-old.
The suit states that Kelly drove up to the victim on a Chicago street in 1998 to invite her to “come to his music studio and be in a video”, adding that the woman felt “star struck and wanted to meet with defendant to pursue a role in what she believed was a music video” but, “commencing in or about June 1998 and thereafter until she was of the age of majority, defendant, Robert Sylvester Kelly, sexually abused plaintiff.”
No damages have been awarded yet, although a hearing is scheduled next month where Cook County Circuit Court Judge Moira S. Johnson will hear the plaintiff’s case and make a ruling on the amount R. Kelly should pay. Neither Kelly nor his attorney, Brian Nix attended the Tuesday hearing at which Judge Johnson found them in fault.
Kelly’s publicist, Darrell Johnson, who has claimed the singer is “depressed” and “emotional” as a result of the charges against him, said “We don’t care about the lawsuit. The lawsuit means nothing to us.”
Kelly could be ordered to pay a sum in the region of $50,000 to the victim.