National Roundup

New York
Ex-worker’s lawsuit alleges music mogul L.A. Reid sexually assaulted her in 2001
NEW YORK (AP) — Antonio “L.A.” Reid, the Grammy-winning music executive who influenced the career of artists including Pink, Usher and Mariah Carey, was sued by a former music executive who says he sexually assaulted her and derailed her career.

Drew Dixon filed the lawsuit Wednesday in a New York federal court. Dixon, who worked for Reid when he was chief executive of Arista Records, alleges that Reid sexually assaulted her twice in 2001
and later cut her budget and sidelined artists when she rebuffed his continuing advances.

Dixon left Arista in 2002 and contends that her “meteoric trajectory” in the music business was cut short by Reid’s harassment.

“This litigation is not only about the horrific physical assaults that Ms. Dixon had to endure but it is also about the irreparable damage done to the rare and blossoming career of an extraordinary talent,” the lawsuit said.

Dixon is seeking unspecified damages.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.

Messages left for Joel Katz, an attorney who represented Reid when Dixon first made her allegations public in 2017, weren’t immediately returned Wednesday night.

The Associated Press wasn’t immediately able to find a publicist, agent, or other contact number for Reid. The New York Times, which first reported the news of the lawsuit, said Reid didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment Wednesday.

Dixon sued under New York state’s Adult Survivors Act, passed last year, which allows alleged victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to sue even if the original statute of limitations has passed. The deadline is Nov. 24.

In 2017, Reid left his position as CEO of Epic Records after a former female assistant accused him of sexual harassment.

Reid told The New York Times at the time: “I’m proud of my track record promoting, supporting and uplifting women at every company I’ve ever run. That notwithstanding, if I have ever said anything capable of being misinterpreted, I apologize unreservedly.”

New York
Woman sues ex-Grammys CEO for sexual assault and accuses Recording Academy of negligence
NEW YORK (AP) — A woman filed a lawsuit Wednesday against former Grammy Awards CEO Neil Portnow, accusing him of a 2018 sexual assault, and against the Recording Academy for negligence.

The woman, who was not named, filed the lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Manhattan under the Adult Survivors Act. The measure, passed last year, created a temporary window for those who allege sexual assault to file past the state’s usual deadlines.

In the lawsuit, the woman, described as an internationally known musician who once played at Carnegie Hall, said she met Portnow in early 2018 and had set up a meeting to interview him at his hotel in New York City later that year. She said he gave her something to drink at the meeting that made her intermittently lose consciousness and that he then proceeded to assault her.

A spokesperson for Portnow, who stepped down as the CEO in 2019, said in an email that the accusations were “completely false” and “undoubtedly motivated by Mr. Portnow’s refusal to comply with the Plaintiff’s outrageous demands for money and assistance in obtaining a residence visa for her.”

The woman said in the lawsuit that she had reached out to the Academy in late 2018 about Portnow. In a statement, the Academy said, “We continue to believe the claims to be without merit and intend to vigorously defend the Academy in this lawsuit.”

Word of the allegations first came to light in 2020, after Portnow had stepped down. His successor, Deborah Dugan, was ousted after mere months and spoke of the accusation against him in filing a complaint against the Academy.

Ohio
Supreme Court justice sues over law requiring certain judicial candidates to use party labels
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A top jurist and former elections chief in Ohio has sued two state officials over a recently passed law that requires certain judicial candidates to declare their party affiliation on ballots.

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Brunner argues in the lawsuit filed Tuesday that the 2021 law violates the free speech, due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution because it subjects candidates like her to different rules for fundraising and campaigning than their potential nonjudicial rivals.

That’s partly because candidates for those court positions are subject to “significant prohibitions of certain conduct” under Ohio’s judicial code of conduct, Brunner argues in U.S. District Court in Youngstown, including any kind of “political or campaign activity that is inconsistent with the independence, integrity, or impartiality of the judiciary.”

The legal challenge was filed against Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in their roles as the state’s top elections and legal officers, respectively. Brunner served as secretary of state from 2007 to 2011.

Besides adding party labels, the new law made additional ballot changes. Those included placing Supreme Court candidates on ballots directly below candidates for statewide offices and Congress, who typically use party labels, and separating high court candidates from county and municipal judicial candidates, who run without party labels.

Brunner, a Democrat, noted the close timing of the law’s introduction at the Republican-controlled Statehouse to her declaration of candidacy for chief justice in 2021. She lost that race to fellow Justice Sharon Kennedy, a Republican, after having handily won a nonpartisan race for justice in 2020. Brunner’s initial election to Ohio’s 7-member high court followed the election of two other Democrats — both in nonpartisan races — in 2018, a rare win for the party in the GOP-dominated state.

Prior to the law, Ohio’s practice of leaving judicial candidates’ party affiliation off the general ballot went back more than 160 years. Before that, the Ohio General Assembly appointed judges.

During debate on the issue, some voters said they vote less frequently for judicial candidates than other offices on their ballots because of a lack of information about them, according to a 2014 Ohio Judicial Elections Survey.

More than half of respondents of the survey said a party label would be “very” or “somewhat” helpful in judicial elections.

LaRose’s spokeswoman said the office does not comment on pending litigation. Yost’s spokes­person didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.