Nick Carter and his legal team are celebrating a small win in their defamation lawsuit against Melissa Schuman, which was filed in response to Schuman’s sexual assault lawsuit – both of which were filed earlier this year. Of course, this is just the beginning of what’s set to be a long and grueling court process.
On Wednesday (August 30), a Clark County (NV) judge ruled in favor of Nick Carter – allowing him to pursue a counterclaim to Schuman’s lawsuit, which was filed in April. It comes nearly six months after he was awarded a counterclaim against Shannon Ruth in March – she also accused him of sexual assault.
A Clark County judge is allowing a counterclaim filed by Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter to move forward against Melissa Schuman. #NickCarter https://t.co/IJngZiDung pic.twitter.com/RYIWeceS8u
— Annie Elise x 10 to LIFE (@_10toLIFE) August 30, 2023
Wednesday’s hearing was simply to determine whether or not Carter could move forward with the counterclaim against Schuman. He originally filed the counterclaim in February, but Schuman’s father filed a motion to block that claim. The judge ultimately decided that Carter had a right to defend himself.
“For years, Melissa and Jerome Schuman have been conspiring with anyone they could manipulate to drum up false claims against Nick Carter in a brazen attempt to get rich off of him,” Liane K. Wakayama (attorney for Nick Carter) said in a statement – which was shared with numerous outlets on Wednesday.
“When Nick called them out on their malicious schemes, the Schumans tried but failed to have his countersuit dismissed and silenced,” she continued – adding that the ruling ‘confirms that Nick will be able to pursue that truth to its inevitable conclusion’ and expose their ‘deceit and deplorable conduct.’
Melissa Schuman originally tried to have Nick Carter criminally charged for sexual assault and battery back in November 2017, but the District Attorney’s office declined to prosecute Carter because the statute of limitations expired in 2013. She filed a new lawsuit in April because a new law revalidates her claim.
Her lawsuit came just a few months after Shannon Ruth filed a lawsuit of her own – accusing Carter of sexual assault in 2001 (one year before he allegedly raped Schuman). In response, Carter is claiming that the allegations are being used to defame, destroy, vilify, and ruin the pop singer’s reputation and career.
Nick Carter is Now Being Sued by a Third Accuser
If Nick Carter didn’t already have his hands full with his lawsuits (and counterclaims) with Shannon Ruth and Melissa Schuman, he can now add a third lawsuit to the list. Filed in a Las Vegas court on Monday, an unnamed woman is suing Carter for sexual assault on multiple occasions when she was 15 (in 2003).
A third woman has filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Backstreet Boys' member Nick Carter.
— Complex (@Complex) August 31, 2023
The lawsuit, which was filed in Las Vegas, alleges that Carter assaulted a 15-year-old girl multiple times in 2003 when he was 22 and 23. pic.twitter.com/9amczHvUQM
The complaint says the pop singer sexually assaulted the 15-year-old (who is being identified as A.R.) while he was in his early-20s – they detail several occasions on a yacht and again on a tour bus where Carter provided the teenager with drugs and alcohol before assaulting her and leaving her with STDs.
In response, Carter’s lawyer are calling the new claims ‘ridiculous’ and ‘meritless’ – adding that she, too, could have been charged with a crime over the alleged incident. Not only that, but his lawyers claim that she had filed a false police report in the past (in a separate incident) and almost faced criminal charges.
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“Now she’s at it yet again. But repeating the same false allegations in a new legal complaint doesn’t make them any more true. Nick is looking forward to the evidence being presented and the truth about these malicious schemes coming to light,” said Dale Hayes Jr. – an attorney for Nick Carter – on Wednesday.
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