Photo Credit: Dawn Richard by Alexander Vaughn / CC by 2.0

A federal judge has dismissed singer Dawn Richard’s sexual abuse and breach of contract lawsuit against Sean Combs, citing the statute of limitations.

A federal judge has dismissed all 18 causes of action in singer Dawn Richard’s sexual abuse and breach of contract lawsuit filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs, ruling that the majority of these claims fell outside the statute of limitations. Richard’s legal team has already announced explicit plans to refile the primary claim in New York state court.

In a ruling dated Friday and publicly released on Monday, Judge Katherine Polk Failla said that Richard can refile her claims in state court, but only one allegation against Combs may be refiled. The other claims, the judge said, have missed the deadline by which a lawsuit must be filed under New York law by more than a decade.

The judge noted that the court ruling “exists independently of its disapprobation of the factual allegations, which, if true, are execrable.” In simple terms, that means the court’s ruling is not based on whether the allegations against Combs are true.

Richard’s attorney, Arick Fudali, confirmed that the singer will refile her primary claim in state court under the Gender-Motivated Violence Act.

“We certainly agree with the judge that the allegations in this case are execrable,” said Fudali. “We intend to continue to fight for Dawn until justice is achieved.”

Richard was a singer in Diddy’s Bad Boy Records groups Danity Kane and Dirty Money from 2004 to 2012. Last year, she testified during the trial in New York in which Combs was convicted on prostitution-related charges, but acquitted of more serious sex trafficking charges.

Her lawsuit, filed in September 2024, alleges that during her eight-year stint working with Combs, he abused and manipulated her as well as other women in both groups. She claimed that Combs regularly deprived her and her bandmates of food and sleep and used disparaging language toward them.

The lawsuit also claimed that Richard and the other women in Combs’ circle were regularly subjected to drug-fueled parties in which Combs and his friends would perform sexual acts on incapacitated women.