Michigan inmate's $100 million judgment against Sean Combs set aside
The $100 million judgment a Michigan inmate won by default in a civil lawsuit against music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was set aside by the judge Wednesday after it emerged in court that notice of the case probably wasn’t properly sent.
In other words: Not so fast, Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith.
The decision from Judge Anna Marie Anzalone, which was reported by the Daily Telegram’s David Panian, means Cardello-Smith, who filed the civil case, doesn’t get $100 million in a lawsuit against Combs just because the music artist didn’t show up in court.
Instead, there will be more hearings, with the next one set for Nov. 4, and more lawyering.
Combs, who made international news this week, has even bigger problems: He was charged in New York and jailed accused of operating an empire that promoted sordid sex crimes that included racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking in an indictment with allegations going back to 2008.
Cardello-Smith, who was convicted of criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping, has accused Combs of touching him while he claims they were having sex with women in Detroit in 1997, and represented himself in Lenawee County Circuit Court after dismissing his attorney.
The inmate appeared via video from Ernest C. Brooks Correctional Facility in Muskegon Heights.
The Daily Telegram, which covered the hearing, said the lawsuit was delivered by certified mail to a residence Combs owns in Los Angeles; but, the judge said it was not mailed for restricted delivery to the addressee as required by the court rules for serving a lawsuit by mail.
The Daily Telegram reported Combs' lead attorney, David Fink of Bloomfield Hills, pointed out Cardello-Smith, by stating how much he paid for postage, had admitted to not mailing the lawsuit for restricted delivery, which, according to Fink, costs more.
Said Fink: "I appreciate him admitting on the record that he only paid $10.40 because that doesn't buy you restricted delivery," and added that Cardello-Smith or someone else had doctored one of the two copies of return receipts in the case file to indicate it had been mailed with restricted delivery.
More: Sean 'Diddy' Combs ordered to pay Michigan inmate $100M in sexual assault lawsuit
Cardello-Smith, however, argued that Anzalone had done everything correctly.
"The service was made," the Daily Telegram reported he said. "You issued a very righteous decision.”
After the hearing, the Daily Telegram added, Anzalone ruled that the civil lawsuit was not properly served and that it is unlikely Cardello-Smith will prevail on the merits of the case due to the statute of limitations for sexual assaults.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judge sets aside Michigan inmate's $100M award against Sean Combs
