Former friend Jonathan “J.T.” Jackson is suing Kevin Hart claiming he failed to adequately defend him following a sex tape incident. Filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the lawsuit alleges Hart broke a settlement agreement requiring him to provide a declaration attesting Jackson’s innocence. Jackson, accused of trying to extort Hart with the sex tape, claims Hart gave false evidence to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, which resulted in his erroneous prosecution.
Jackson’s lawsuit covers charges for fraud and breach of contract and calls for at least $12 million. Jackson was charged in 2018 with attempting to extort Hart from a film depicting Hart engaged in sexual activity with a woman not his wife. Hart accused Jackson of producing and distributing the tape in a Netflix docuseries titled “Don’t F**k This Up,” one year later.
Hart committed to advocate the dismissal of any criminal proceedings against Jackson and to make a public statement clearing him in 2021, so attesting to their settlement. Jackson claims, meanwhile, that Hart “blatantly broke” the agreement by straying from the “meticulously negotiated” language of the statement. Hart said, “J.T. Jackson has recently been found not guilty, and those charges have been dropped against him,” instead of the decided-upon denial that Jackson was “not guilty and had nothing to do with it.”
Jackson says this change weakened the goal of the settlement to rebuild his reputation, therefore creating a “profound and egregious breach.” The lawsuit also charges Hart with creating an email reportedly forwarded to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, which resulted in the raid on Jackson’s house, on false pretences. Hart’s attorneys claim According to forensic investigation, the apparently April 2018 email was really produced in May 2019.
Daniel L. Reback, Jackson’s attorney, contended that Hart’s actual words differed greatly from the agreed-upon phrasing and lacked clear declaration of Jackson’s innocence or non-involvement. The lawsuit asks for $12 million in damages, punitive damages decided at trial, legal expenses and fees, and injunctions directing the defendants to clear Jackson and delete misleading remarks about him from the Netflix docuseries.
Hart’s reps have not spoken about the complaint. The case emphasises continuing conflicts and unresolved problems from the sex video controversy that has tormented Hart and Jackson for years.
