Attorneys for Kevin Hart's loan-out company are asking a judge to order a former friend of the comedian to arbitrate the plaintiff's claims regarding the fallout from the actor's former 2017 sex-tape controversy.
The motion stems from the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit brought by Jonathan "J.T." Jackson in which he alleged Hart did not use the verbiage they had chosen in a July 2021 settlement when Hart addressed the issue on the social media in October of that year. Jackson sued Hart and the entertainer's loan-out company, Hartbeat LLC, on July 10.
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On Thursday, Hartbeat lawyers filed court papers with Judge Daniel S. Murphy arguing that Jackson's four claims against the company should be decided by an arbitrator rather than a jury.
Jackson's allegations against Hartbeat involve a written contract between him and the company in which both sides agreed to mandatory arbitration of any "controversy, claim or dispute," according to Hartbeat attorneys, who further state in their court papers that Jackson decided not to attach the contract to his amended lawsuit brought Aug. 6.
Despite the arbitration provision, Jackson filed the lawsuit anyway and all proceedings in court should be put on hold pending the outcome of the arbitration, the suit states.
A hearing on Hartbeat's motion is scheduled Oct. 23.
In 2018, Jackson was charged with attempting to extort the married Hart by allegedly threatening to make public a video of the performer having sex with another woman, but the criminal case was dropped three years later.
In July 2021, Jackson and Hart settled their disputes and Hart agreed to make a public statement exonerating, leaving Jackson with the hope he would be able to overcome the negative publicity from the criminal accusations, the suit states.
Hart, however, "blatantly breached the contract by failing to issue the agreed-upon public statement exonerating plaintiff, causing significant harm and irreparable damage to plaintiff's reputation, the suit alleges.
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