Highlights

• Kesha's rise to fame was followed by traumatic allegations against Dr. Luke, leading to a legal battle that ultimately had no resolution.
• Judge Kornreich's potential conflict of interest may have played a role in Kesha's lawsuit failure, leading to a settlement between Kesha and Dr. Luke.
• Despite legal battles and allegations of defamation, Kesha looks forward to moving past this chapter in her life and focusing on her music career.

Kesha rose to fame in 2009 with her appearance on Flo Rida's song, "Right Round." That success was followed in 2010 with dance hits like "Tik Tok", "Your Love Is My Drug", and "Take It Off", all from the album, Animal. Kesha's career was white hot, Kesha came across as intelligent, and she looked like she was enjoying the life of a young celebrity.

Behind the scenes, however, life was not as rosy for Kesha. She alleged that during her time at Sony under the direction of Dr. Luke, she was traumatized. From her accusations of being a victim of sexual abuse to being mentally abused beginning in 2005 at the hands of Dr. Luke, whose real name is Lukasz Gottwald, Kesha decided to sue Dr. Luke for his action a decade later in 2014.

Dr. Luke claimed time and again that he was innocent. He even went as far as to file a countersuit against Kesha for defamation of character as her claims affected the artists who would work with Dr. Luke based on Kesha's claims.

After going to court on cases filed in both California and New York, Kesha's lawsuit against Dr. Luke failed, and there appears to be a detail that hints at why — a detail that fans think Kesha's attorneys should have picked up on early in her case but never did, and the reason why may never be known.

Why Kesha's Lawsuit Against Dr. Luke May Have Failed

The judge on Kesha's case may have had a conflict of interest that should have been disclosed

Kesha filed lawsuits against Dr. Luke in both California and New York in 2014. The first case heard was the one filed in New York. The judge assigned to the case was Shirley Kornreich, and she would prove to be the reason why Kesha's cases were denied at every turn.

The first time that Kesha's case was heard in New York was in 2016. After both sides presented their cases, Judge Kornreich provided her first ruling in February of that year.

"There are no facts to support Gottwald’s animus toward women," Kornreich wrote in her ruling. "Gottwald is alleged to have made offensive remarks about Kesha’s weight, appearance, and talent, not about women in general. Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime."

The judge went on to say in her ruling, "Her claims of insults about her value as an artist, her looks, and her weight are insufficient to constitute ‘extreme, outrageous conduct intolerable in civil society.'"

Judge Kornreich also wrote, "In 2014, Gottwald commenced the instant breach of contract action in New York. Immediately thereafter, Kesha brought an action in California, alleging … claims for sexual assault, sexual harassment, and gender violence," which was a contradiction to the fact that Kesha filed her claim against Dr. Luke first.

The final blow, however, was that Judge Kornreich ruled that New York did not have jurisdiction in the case, given that the alleged events that occurred at the hands of Dr. Luke occurred in California.

Kesha's attorneys filed an appeal, which was heard in April 2016. At that time, Judge Kornreich refused to overturn the ruling, and dismissed the case. This left Kesha in the position of still being under contract with Sony and putting out albums for Dr. Luke's company, which Sony owned.

Judge Shirley Kornreich's Conflict Of Interest Was Never Called To Attention

Judge Kornreich was married to attorney, Ed Kornreich, whose company represents Sony as a client

During the time that Kesha's case was being heard in New York, Kesha was virtually not heard from. Later, fans suspected that Kesha's legal team didn't uncover the possible conflict of interest with Judge Kornreich during the case.

While this is not something that is generally practiced as anyone who has a conflict of interest in a case is supposed to announce it, it's suspected that the ruling against Kesha may have had to do with Judge Kornreich's reported association with Sony.

While Judge Kornreich did not work for Sony, her husband, Ed Kornreich, an attorney at the firm, Proskauer Rose has Sony as one of their clients. It may be that Judge Kornreich may have been able to stay neutral about her opinions about both Kesha and Dr. Luke. But the fact that her husband's firm was involved with Sony threw up some red flags for fans.

"Judges are required under the New York state canon of judicial ethics to avoid even the appearance of impropriety," Troy Slaten, a legal expert, explained. "This means judges are not supposed to preside over cases where they have an actual or potential financial interest in the outcome. The rules go so far as to say that even somebody in the judge's family should not have a financial interest in the outcome of litigation."

Slaten went on to say, "A judge has a duty to recuse themselves from a case in which there is an actual conflict. If a judge's spouse has a financial interest in the litigation (i.e. is a partner at a law firm representing one of the parties), that seems like an actual conflict to me."

While this was never something that Kesha's attorneys pursued, it is unclear if that was because they were not willing to or if Kesha just wanted to put the case behind her. However, by all accounts, it appears that if Kesha wanted to appeal based on a conflict of interest, she would have been able to.

Kesha Eventually Settled All Cases Involving Dr. Luke

All the cases filed by both Kesha and Dr. Luke were eventually settled with no real resolution to the accusations brought against Dr. Luke

After the ruling in New York, Kesha dropped her case in California, just hoping to move on with her music career. That meant that the only thing left to pursue was the defamation of character case that Dr. Luke had brought against Kesha.

In 2020, Dr. Luke appeared to have won the civil case against Kesha when the judge ruled that defamation had indeed occurred via social media and private text messages to Lady Gaga. Kesha was ordered to pay legal costs and fees, which amounted to $373,000.

However, Kesha's legal team appealed the ruling. In 2021, Judge Michael Garcia reversed the ruling, stating that Dr. Luke was a "public figure" and had to produce more evidence to prove that "Kesha acted with actual malice" when she posted to social media.

Further still, the judge ruled that Kesha should have been allowed to file a counterclaim, which she never was.

As a result of the ruling, both Kesha and Dr. Luke settled their cases.

"Only God knows what happened that night, as I have always said," Kesha said in her statement. "I cannot recount everything that happened. I am looking forward to closing the door on this chapter of my life and beginning a new one."