A lawsuit by a former member of the girl band Dream against Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter, alleging he raped her in his Santa Monica apartment in 2003, should be stayed pending the outcome of another suit filed against the “Hurts to Love You” singer in Nevada, the performer’s attorneys argue in new court papers.
Melissa Schuman’s Santa Monica Superior Court lawsuit was filed in April 2023 and alleges sexual battery, sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Schuman also names as a defendant Carter’s company, Kaotic Productions. She first went public with her allegations against Carter in 2017.
But in court papers filed Monday with Judge Lisa K. Sepe-Wiesenfeld, the 44-year-old Carter’s lawyers note that another woman, Shannon “Shay” Ruth, sued Carter in Nevada in December 2022, alleging the singer sexually assaulted her on his tour bus after a Backstreet Boys concert in Tacoma, Washington, in February 2022.
Carter responded in February 2023 by countersuing Ruth, Schuman, and Schuman’s father, Jerome Schuman, alleging that the three conspired for years to defame and extort Carter.
“The facts, legal issues, parties and witnesses from the Nevada lawsuit are essentially identical to the instant action,” Carter’s attorneys argue in their court papers.
Both the Nevada and the Schuman lawsuits concern Ruth’s allegations of a 2001 sexual assault (and) Schuman’s allegations of a 2003 similar attack, so the same evidence and legal principles are at issue in both lawsuits, Carter’s lawyers maintain in their court papers.
“Both lawsuits will be dispositively resolved when Carter establishes the falsity of Schuman’s and Ruth’s frivolous claims,” the singer’s attorneys also state in their pleadings.
When the judge on Jan. 17 denied Carter’s motion to dismiss Schuman’s lawsuit on grounds it should have been filed in Nevada where the parties live, she also said that Carter’s arguments would be “more persuasive” if the singer was seeking a stay rather than a dismissal, the performer’s lawyers state in their pleadings.
In her suit, Schuman contends Carter invited her to his Santa Monica apartment in 2003, while both were working on filming a teen horror film called “The Hollow.” The complaint further states that Carter, who was with a male friend, invited her over to “hang out and play video games.”
Schuman went to his apartment with her roommate, and while there, Carter began making cocktails, and the lawsuit contends he put some type of drug in her drink. Carter led her to a back office under the pretense of sharing some new music he was working on, but he began sexually assaulting her, eventually raping her in a bedroom, the lawsuit states.
In a previous statement, Carter’s attorneys denied Schuman’s allegations.
“Melissa Schuman has been peddling this tale for many years,” attorney Liane Wakayama said in a statement. “But her allegation was false when she first made it back in 2017, and it still is.”
Schuman’s lawyers contend that Carter has engaged in a pattern of “online intimidation” against Schuman in an effort to discredit her allegations against the singer. The lawsuit claims Carter used his “fan engagement team to encourage (Carter’s) dedicated fan base to engage in internet intimidation in an effort to intimidate, blame, harass and discredit plaintiff online.”
A hearing on Carter’s motion to stay is scheduled July 10.