ATLANTA, GEORGIA – SEPTEMBER 30: T.I. and Tameka “Tiny” Harris attend the BET Hip Hop Awards 2022 at The Cobb Theater on September 30, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET)
LOS ANGELES – Atlanta rapper T.I. and his wife, Tiny Harris, are trying to dismiss a lawsuit by a military veteran accusing the couple of sexual assault.
TMZ reports that the woman, who filed a lawsuit against the couple as “Jane Doe” in January, claims the couple drugged her after she met them at the VIP section of a nightclub in Los Angeles around 2005.
In the lawsuit, the woman says she was given a spiked drink by Tiny and then was taken back to their hotel room where they “forced her to get naked” before assaulting her, Billboard reports.
During the alleged incident, the woman, who was 20 and serving in the U.S. Air Force at the time, said she became “extremely dizzy and lightheaded” and passed out.
The woman is suing the couple for sexual battery, assault, negligence, and false imprisonment.
In new documents obtained by PEOPLE, the rapper and the R&B singer filed a motion asking a federal judge to dismiss the case “in its entirety, with prejudice.”
The couple’s lawyers claim that the statute of limitations on the woman’s claims had already expired.
“Here, at best, Plaintiff had up to December 31, 2007, to file the instant lawsuit based on the facts alleged in the Complaint,” the motion reportedly read. “As such, this instant lawsuit, filed over sixteen years past that statutory deadline – 18 years after the facts alleged in the Complaint occurred is time-barred, along with all the claims asserted in the Complaint.”
While T.I. and Tiny have not commented on the new filing, they have previously denied the lawsuit allegations and called the woman’s actions “extortion.”
A hearing on the couple’s motion is set for August in California.
Previous allegations of sexual assault against T.I. and Tiny
The Los Angeles Police Department began an investigation into sexual assault allegations against the couple in 2021 but declined to bring charges due to the statute of limitations.
Las Vegas police also received a report in 2021 of a sexual assault incident in 2010 involving the couple. That case was also closed because it was reported outside the statute of limitations.
In March 2021, attorney Tyrone A. Blackburn said more than 30 women contacted him accusing T.I. and his wife of “forced drugging, kidnapping, rape and intimidation” in at least two states, including California and Georgia. He said the allegations span more than 15 years.
Production for the VH1 reality series “T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle” was suspended amid the sexual abuse allegations.
A spokesperson for T.I. and Tiny denied those accusations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
