A former personal assistant to Kevin Hart won approval Tuesday to file an anti-SLAPP motion in her defense against a civil suit filed by the comedian.
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Meanwhile, in new court papers, the former assistant, Miesha Shakes, also said she did not know she could be violating a non-disclosure agreement by conducting an online interview with another woman.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly J. Fujie ruled Tuesday that Shakes can bring her own motion -- on First Amendment grounds -- challenging Hart's claims. The judge found that Shakes was unrepresented at the time and therefore did not violate a March deadline to file the motion.
Hart's suit, originally filed Dec. 26 and amended Jan. 2, involves a social media conversation between Shakes and Latasha Transrina Kebe, who also is known as Tasha K.
In their court papers, the 44-year-old Hart's attorneys maintain their client and his company, K. Hart Enterprises Inc., suffered "irreparable harm from the continued publication and broadcasting of the interview and related content, which includes defamatory statements, including false statements regarding Hart's supposed criminal conduct, which are damaging to his reputation and thereby to his livelihood as a performer."
The anti-SLAPP law -- Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation -- is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their free-speech rights.
In April, Fujie ruled in Kebe's own anti-SLAPP motion that Hart can proceed with his causes of action for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional interference with contract. Fujie dismissed the claim for civil extortion as well as the causes of action for defamation and invasion of privacy by Hart's company, Kevin Hart Enterprises.
Hart's lawyers maintain the comedian and Shakes had a non-disclosure agreement and that Shakes breached the accord, although Shakes maintains the contract took advantage of her mental state at the time. Hart's attorneys also contend that Shakes and Kebe sought money in order to keep quiet.
In a sworn declaration filed Tuesday, Shakes maintains she was unaware of the NDA's terms.
"At the time of signing the NDA, I was suffering from significant mental health issues and was under considerable financial distress due to my unemployment," Shakes says. "Hart was fully aware of my ongoing health issues and critical need for health insurance and funds, as I could not afford health insurance or my prescribed medications."
Shakes further says that when she signed the NDA she was unaware that it included a confidentiality clause because Hart told her it was a "mutual release" that would benefit the plaintiff and her family.
Hart's attorneys also contend that Shakes and Kebe sought $250,000 in exchange for keeping quiet.
But Shakes says she was not involved in an extortion plot against Hart and that her use of the word "charges" during the interview pertained to potential civil, not criminal allegations.
Kebe has a history of publishing and broadcasting defamatory content about public figures and was recently found liable for nearly $4 million in a defamation suit brought by Cardi B, according to Hart's attorneys' pleadings.
In a sworn declaration, Hart says Shakes admitted during the interview that she obtained some of the information she discussed by secretly listening through the walls to private conversations at Hart's offices.
Hart denied Shakes' assertion that he made a secret video recording of a romantic liaison he had with a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2017, and he additionally says she wrongfully divulged information about his interactions with his wife after the hotel encounter became public.
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