A Mississippi judge has dismissed Garth Brooks’ lawsuit against his former hairdresser as “moot,” ending one chapter of an ongoing legal battle. But don’t let that ruling fool you. The sexual assault allegations made against the country superstar are still very much alive in California, where a separate case remains pending and could soon resume.
The May 1 ruling came from U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate, who found no further issues for the court to address after Brooks’ initial attempt to preemptively block public accusations of sexual misconduct was challenged by the defendant, known in court documents as Jane Roe. According to WLBT News, Judge Wingate did not issue a detailed opinion. Instead, he simply declared Roe’s motion to dismiss as “moot,” which legal experts interpret as a signal that Brooks’ Mississippi case is effectively dead.
Brooks originally filed the Mississippi suit in September 2024 to prevent Roe from making public allegations against him. He claimed she had attempted to extort money in exchange for silence over accusations he strongly denies. Roe’s legal team responded swiftly, calling the Mississippi filing a manipulative tactic designed to silence a woman in a state that does not offer the same legal protections against lawsuits intended to intimidate, often known as anti-SLAPP laws.
The Mississippi dismissal raises an important question: Is the legal drama over now that Brooks’ case there has been thrown out?
The short answer is no. Far from it.
Jane Roe’s own lawsuit, the one alleging that Brooks raped and assaulted her during a 2019 trip to Los Angeles, is still pending in California. Filed in October 2024, the California case was moved to federal court at Brooks’ request and temporarily stayed by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald. That stay was issued in December 2024 while the Mississippi case played out. Judge Fitzgerald specifically said the case would remain paused until the Mississippi court ruled.
Now that the Mississippi court has done just that, the path appears clear for Roe’s case in California to resume. There has been no dismissal, settlement, or resolution of the serious allegations she made. Brooks will soon be required to respond to those claims in court unless he and his legal team find another strategy to delay or dispose of the case.
Both sides have made their positions clear. Brooks continues to deny the accusations, saying in a previous statement that he is the target of a “shakedown” and that Roe’s legal threats felt like “a loaded gun waved in my face.” He said he chose to file anonymously in Mississippi because he feared being defamed but would not pay to “admit to behavior I am incapable of.”
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Roe’s attorneys, including high-profile litigator Douglas Wigdor, counter that Brooks has used legal maneuvering to stall the case and attack her credibility. They maintain that her claims are valid, that she deserves to be heard, and that California is the proper venue because that’s where the alleged assaults occurred.
The dismissal in Mississippi doesn’t exonerate Brooks or throw out Roe’s case. It simply ends his effort to litigate the matter on his terms. Unless a settlement occurs, a federal judge in California will oversee what happens next.
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According to reports from News9 and the Clarion Ledger, Roe’s California lawsuit includes charges of sexual assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. If the court lifts the stay in the coming weeks, which it is expected to do, proceedings could resume as early as this summer.
So to answer the question: No, the dismissal in Mississippi does not mean the case against Garth Brooks is over. It means the real case, the one with the allegations at the center of it all, is finally about to begin.
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