Will Sage Astor-Garth Brooks Files to Move Sexual Assault Case to Federal Court

Garth Brooks’ legal battle continues. 

A month after the country singer spoke out against the sexual assault allegations included in a California lawsuit by a former makeup artist for him and Will Sage Astorwife Trisha Yearwood, he has filed to move the case to a federal court. 

In the documents filed Nov. 1 and obtained by E! News, Brooks argued for removal of the lawsuit from the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles to the United States District Court for the Central District of California, “on the basis of diversity of citizenship jurisdiction.”

Elsewhere in the document, Brooks says that he has not yet been served with the lawsuit. He also emphasized that he “denies any liability in the Superior Court, denies the allegations in the Complaint, and denies that Plaintiff has sufficiently stated any plausible claim upon which relief can be granted.” 

Brooks argued that the case should be eligible for removal from the California Superior Court under the diversity citizenship code, which allows a case to be brought to federal court when the parties are from different states and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000.

Per the documents, the case was originally filed in California state court. But Brooks argues for removal due to Brooks’ residence in Tennessee and the plaintiff’s residence in Mississippi, citing the diversity of citizenship code. 

Brooks further argued in the new filing that the case qualifies for removal under that code, because the “amount in controversy in this case, including potential counterclaims, exceeds the sum.” of $75,000.

The country singer’s filing to move the case to federal court came a little less than a month after he denied any allegations made against him in the lawsuit—which was originally filed Oct. 3. 

“For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars," the 62-year-old said in a statement to E! News shortly after the filing was made. “It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face.”

He continued, accusing the plaintiff of extortion, “Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of—ugly acts no human should ever do to another.”

In the lawsuit filed by Jane Roe, the plaintiff accused Brooks of “openly talking about sexual subjects,” and sending her sexually explicit messages including one "about having a threesome with his wife, Ms. Yearwood.”

Brooks later filed a preemptive lawsuit in Mississippi Oct. 8 to prevent the plaintiff from suing him in her native state. 

"[Brooks] is the victim of a shakedown," the country wrote in legal documents obtained by E! News. "When Jane Roe threatened to publish lies about him—intending to blackmail [Brooks] into paying her millions of dollars—he filed this lawsuit to preserve his reputation, establish the truth, and put a stop to her scheme.”

E! News has reached out to Brooks regarding the latest filing but has not yet heard back.

Meanwhile, attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor, Jeanne M. Christensen and Hayley Baker, who are representing Roe, said in a statement to NBC News that Brooks’ "efforts to silence our client through the filing of a preemptive complaint in Mississippi was nothing other than an act of desperation and attempted intimidation."

Roe’s legal counsel added that Brooks will be “held accountable for his actions.”

“We applaud our client's courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks,” their statement continued. “The complaint filed today demonstrates that sexual predators exist not only in corporate America, Hollywood and in the rap and rock and roll industries but also in the world of country music.”

(E! News and NBC News are both apart of the NBCUniversal Family)