A state appeals panel has upheld a $4 million default judgment a Cook County court entered against singer R. Kelly in connection with allegations of sexual abuse.
The Illinois First District Appellate Court issued a decision in the matter Sept. 30. Justice Mary Ellen Coghlan wrote the opinion; Justices Michael Hyman and Carl Walker concurred. The order was issued under Supreme Court Rule 23, which may restrict its use as precedent.
In April 2019, Cook County Circuit Court Judge James Flannery awarded $4 million to a woman identified as Heather Williams, the result of her lawsuit accusing Kelly of violating the Childhood Sexual Abuse Act. According to a report published by Courthouse News, Williams initially sued in February 2019, making allegations about Kelly going back to 1998, when she was 16.
According to the appeals panel, Kelly filed a petition to have Judge Flannery vacate the default ruling, initially winning an extra 28 days to answer the initial complaint or enter a plea. He also won a stay pushing the deadline to June. However, Kelly failed to convince the judge Williams’ complaint was outside statutory limitations. Kelly continued to press that defense in circuit court, while also invoking Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incriminating testimony.
In January 2020, Zaid Abdallah, Shady Yassin and Raed Shalabi, of Abdallah Law, withdrew their representation of Kelly. When Kelly didn’t retain new attorneys or have anyone appear on his behalf by Feb. 25, Judge Flannery entered a default order against Kelly and granted Williams’ motion for summary judgment on liability. Flannery awarded $2 million in compensatory damages and another $2 million in punitive damages at a March 10, 2020, hearing.
Six months later a new attorney, Brian Nix, filed a motion to vacate the default judgment. In February 20201, Jordan & Zito LLC filed another petition to vacate, restating Kelly’s statutory limitation defense and saying Abdallah Law didn’t send along information after learning Nix agreed to appear on Kelly’s behalf.
The firm further argued Kelly couldn’t address the default judgment because of Covid mitigations regarding outside contact while Kelly was detained at the Metropolitan Correction Center as part of federal criminal proceedings. Those proceedings are distinct from a federal criminal trial in New York that resulted in a 30-year prison sentence for Kelly on convictions for racketeering and sex trafficking.
Flannery ultimately denied Kelly’s motion to vacate on June 16, 2021, prompting an appeal in which Kelly argued his “meritorious defense” had been discredited and any default judgment is a direct result of miscommunication among attorneys.
In the appellate opinion, Coghlan explained Kelly’s attempt to invoke a statutory limitation as an affirmative defense was “adjudicated and rejected” and can’t be revived, adding “Kelly has also failed to establish due diligence in filing his petition.”
Kelly claimed Adballah Law never provided notice of its withdrawal. But Coghlan said the record shows “notice of the motion was hand delivered to him at the MCC.” And while Kelly was not permitted to have in-person meeting with lawyers at the MCC, he wasn’t denied telephone calls.
“In any event,” Coghlan wrote, “the negligence of his attorneys does not excuse Kelly’s own failure to exercise due diligence in defending this action.”
The panel further explained there was no dispute concerning central facts that would need to be sufficient to vacate Flannery’s judgment and ultimately affirmed the denial of Kelly’s petition.