Lizzo's wardrobe manager is asking a judge to dismiss all claims filed against her by a former employee of the "Good as Hell" singer, alleging the plaintiff has no grounds for bringing the lawsuit in a California court.
Asha Daniels' Santa Monica Superior Court suit names as defendants the entertainer, whose real name is Melissa Jefferson; her production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc.; Lizzo's wardrobe manager, Amanda Nomura; and Lizzo's tour manager, Carlina Gugliotta. Daniels was hired as an assistant to Nomura and held her job for less than three weeks, according to Lizzo's attorneys' court papers.
Nomura's attorneys filed court papers on Tuesday with Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Mark Epstein asking that Daniels' service of summons regarding the claims against Nomura be quashed, saying Nomura is a Colorado resident with no ties to California.
"I do not currently do business in the state of California, nor have I ever done so," Nomura says in a sworn declaration. "The only time I have ever performed any work in California is when I have rendered professional services to other prior employers on an occasional and sporadic basis to the extent the concert tours I worked on while in their employ included California concert dates."
During her short employment, Daniels "refused to comply with instructions from her supervisors and tour management, failed to perform the work that she was assigned, and eventually just ... refused to show up for work," Nomura's lawyers maintain in their court papers.
According to Daniels, she designed the wardrobe for the dancers who would be on Lizzo's 2023 tour. The plaintiff's other causes of action include disability discrimination, illegal retaliatory termination and assault. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Daniels' complaint was brought Sept. 21, a month after Lizzo was sued by three former dancers who say they were weight-shamed and forced to endure illegal sexual, religious and racial harassment and disability discrimination.
Lizzo denied the plaintiffs' allegations and said there is "nothing I take more seriously than the respect we deserve as women in the world."
Daniels, who like Lizzo is Black, looked forward to working with the performer and her team because of the values the singer shows in public, but the opposite turned out to be true, the plaintiff's court papers state.
Throughout her employment with Lizzo, Daniels says she heard racist and "fatphobic" comments from Nomura, who allegedly mocked both Lizzo and the singer's background dancers on multiple occasions.
Nomura would imitate the dancers and Lizzo by doing an offensive stereotypical impression of a Black woman, according to Daniels' court papers, which further state that Nomura referred to Black women on the tour as "dumb," "useless" and "fat."
Daniels complained often to Nomura, who rebuffed the plaintiff, Daniels' court papers state.
Daniels and other crew members also received threats of physical harm from Nomura, according to Daniels' court papers, which further state that the plaintiff was fired in March and suffers from anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, migraines, sight distortions, brain fog and fatigue.
A hearing on Nomura's motion to quash the summons is scheduled Feb. 1.
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