The US Supreme Court has thrown out the previously reported sexual harassment case brought by James Brown's former publicist Jacque Hollander against her late former employer. Hollander sought damages of $106 million, having accused the soul star of raping her at gunpoint in 1988, and alleging that the trauma of the incident caused her to develop a thyroid condition, Grave's Disease.
The lawsuit was, of course, originally dismissed back in 2005, due to the fact that it had taken Hollander more than ten years to file a suit. Her appeal contended that she had not filed the suit until the diagnosis of her illness, and its apparent cause, and that diagnosis took place many years after the alleged rape.
Brown's lawyer Buddy Dallas said he was not expecting the Supreme Court to side with Hollander, saying: "When you let years and years go by and you make accusations with no apparent substance to it, why should it be a surprise?"
Hollander, meanwhile, feels that the decision went against her because of James Brown's legendary status as a soul singer. She told reporters: "Unfortunately for this case, I think it was more about James Brown, the Godfather of Soul. It hurts. This whole thing has hurt - 19 years of extreme hurt and pain". She is now promising to concentrate on "writing the truth and revealing the evidence" via book or film.