Plaintiffs cannot sue Sean Combs anonymously

These plaintiffs sued Sean "Puffy" Combs, the famous hip-hop artist, claiming various acts of sexual abuse dating to 1991-1997. These claims were facilitated by a recent law in New York that reopened the statutes of limitation for otherwise stale sex abuse claims. But this appeal does not determine whether Combs is liable. Rather, it addresses whether plaintiffs may litigate their claims under pseudonyms, i.e., Jane Doe. They cannot.

The case is Doe v. Combs, a summary order issued on March 17. The district court said the plaintiffs have to litigate these cases under their real names, not Jane Doe aliases. The Court of Appeals (Park, Nardini and Kahn) affirms. The federal rules assume that plaintiffs must use their real names, but there are exceptions for John Doe pseudonyms if the plaintiffs can meet certain criterion, including whether the cases involve highly sensitive subject matter, whether identifying themselves poses a risk of retaliation to that party or to innocent non-parties, whether the defendant will suffer any prejudice from anonymity, etc. The Court of Appeals articulates a 10-part test, making this inquiry unpredictable.

While plaintiffs raise claims involving a highly sensitive and personal nature, they cannot prove any risk of harm in using their real names, such as possible retaliation, and they cannot show any mental harm if they cannot proceed as Jane Does. Instead, they assert threats of retaliation made to other litigants, but not themselves, and while one plaintiff said that Combs threatened her with violence when he assaulted her, that was more than three decades ago, the Court notes, and she does not identify any present threat of physical harm. Do you see how hard it is to proceed under a pseudonym?

Another reason the plaintiffs lose this appeal is that if they proceed anonymously, Combs would be highly prejudiced "because of likely asymmetries in fact-gathering." Courts have held that "concealing the name of a party could deprive a litigant and the court of the chance that a yet unknown witness would . . . upon learning of the case, know to step forward with valuable information about the events or the credibility of witnesses." The loss of such witnesses would be particularly prejudicial in this case because the events of this case took place more than 30 years ago, and the case would "be difficult to defend even with information about Plaintiffs' identities." In other words, while the defendants in this case do know who the plaintiffs are, the public does not, and the public might have evidence relevant to the case.