A US appeals court has thrown out the latest attempt by James Brown's former publicist to bring rape allegations against the soul star.
As previously reported, Jacque Hollander claims that Brown raped her at gunpoint in 1988, when she was working for the singer, and blames the incident for causing her to develop a subsequent thyroid condition, which is really the crux of the case (or, rather, why Hollander took so long to pursue the case - her doctor having told her that her state of ill-health was caused by the alleged incident, but not until twelve years later).
The suit, filed back in 2005, claimed that the usual statute of limitations of two years did not apply in this case, due to the fact that the publicist's 'injury' did not become apparent until ten years after it had run out. At the time US Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier dismissed the suit on the grounds that it had been brought fifteen years too late. Now the three judge panel of the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals has decided to uphold the lower court's ruling that the statute does in fact apply.
Brown's lawyers have, of course, denied the allegations.