The City of Chicago has already sued Jussie Smollett for allegedly orchestrating a fake attack against himself and now the “Empire” star is letting it be known he might file a lawsuit of his own.
Smollet and the City of Chicago filed a joint status report as part of the lawsuit filed by the city back in April.
As part of the status report, Smollett’s attorneys state, “Defendant contemplates filing an action against the City of Chicago and/or its agents for their conduct underlying the arrest and their conduct thereafter including constitutional claims and state law claims. Defendant reserves the right to bring such claims at the appropriate time provided by law.”
The report also states that both sides feel the earliest they will be ready for trial is June 2020. They estimate the trial would take two or three days to complete.
The two sides also say they have “engaged in settlement discussions, but those discussions are not ongoing.”
The City of Chicago is seeking to recoup the costs of the investigation into Smollett’s alleged attack.
In the complaint, the city did not mince words in saying Smollett staged the incident.
They wrote, “On January 29, 2019, Defendant submitted a false police report claiming that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic beating by unknown attackers,” the lawsuit states. “In reality, Defendant knew his attackers and orchestrated the purported attack himself. Later, when police confronted him with evidence about his attackers, he still refused to disclose his involvement in planning the attack.”
Smollett responded with a motion to dismiss, saying his story never changed and he maintained his innocence, pointing to his criminal charges being dropped.
Smollett said the lawsuit “appears to be an unprecedented effort to seek penalties and resources expended in connection with allegedly false statements made to the police where the related criminal case concerning the statements was dismissed nolle pros on all counts.”
