Los Angeles, CA — Performer Nikki Benz was handed a significant loss when the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, announced its decision in the Tony T versus Nikki Benz case last week.
Benz had appealed her trial court anti-SLAPP motion loss from 2017, when she attempted to strike Tony T’s claims for libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The case began with Twitter allegations by Benz and claims of assault and rape at a December 2016 shoot for porn giant Brazzers that was directed by Tony T.
Shortly after Benz published a series of accusatory tweets, Brazzers announced that it had fired Tony T for allegedly violating its shooting rules during the creation of “Nikki Goes Nuts,” a hardcore sex scene also featuring performer Ramon Nomar. The scene involved a mask, sex toys, slapping and anal sex.
Tony T denied Benz’s allegations, and the crew submitted affidavits in support of Tony T and his version of the shoot activities.
Now, the Court of Appeal has found that the trial court correctly denied Benz’s anti-SLAPP motion because Tony T had successfully established his “prima facie case of libel per se” regarding the rape allegation made on Twitter.
The court found that a reasonable interpretation of Benz’s tweets is that she was accusing Tony T of rape and that her own “self-serving declaration about how to interpret her tweets cannot control.” In her appeal, Benz argued that her “statements were substantially true” and that her tweets were “mere opinion.” The court disagreed with that reasoning and, consequently, affirmed Tony T’s superior court victory and awarded him costs.
Tony T expressed great relief at the court decision and thanked his attorneys, “This has been a crazy experience and has been brutal for me. I want to get back in to court and show all the evidence about the shoot to the judge and jury.”
Now, the civil case returns to the trial court where the related case of Nikki Benz v. Brazzers, which had been stayed, will also resume in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Here is a link to the court website: https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions-nonpub.htm. The Appellate Court’s opinion is attached.
