Garth Brooks files request to transfer sexual assault case to federal court

Garth Brooks is trying to get his case moved to federal court after a former employee filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexually assaulting her.

The 62-year-old country music superstar filed documents on November 1 to have his complain against the woman, who initially filed as an anonymous 'Jane Roe,' moved from the California Superior Court to federal court, according to People .

According to documents obtained by the publication, Brooks' attorneys requested the transfer because his accuser asked for damages exceeding $75,000, which would put the amount in the range that can be covered by federal courts.

DailyMail.com has contacted Brooks' representative to request comment.

The singer, who has adamantly denied the woman's allegations, previously claimed he was the ' victim of a shakedown ,' and he accused the plaintiff of trying to 'blackmail' him in legal documents.

While speaking to Entertainment Tonight , the legal expert Tre Lovell explained that Brooks may also be eligible to have the lawsuit moved to federal court because he is from Tennessee, while Roe is from Mississippi.

Among the potential 'advantages' of a federal trial are a 'quicker trial date' and a 'broader jury pool.'

'Los Angeles tends to be more of a minority blue-collar jury pool,' Lovell said, implying that that composition would be more favorable to Roe.

'In federal court, you have a broader jury pool, and a broader jury pool, I think, would help Garth as well in this case,' he added.

The legal expert suggested that federal judges might be more willing to throw out the case, and he also noted that they might be more likely to seal the filings, which could prevent any embarrassing details about the singer's alleged interactions with his accuser from being seen by the public.

Brooks was previously so upset that his name was disclosed by Roe's attorneys that he re-filed his initial complaint last month with her full name listed.

The singer had filed an anonymous preemptive countersuit in federal court in Mississippi in September, though his accuser eventually filed her suit in California on October 3.

In his filing, he said the lawsuit was filed after he received a 'demand letter' from Roe's attorney.

In her lawsuit, the anonymous woman accused Brooks of fostering a sexually hostile workplace prior to the alleged rape in 2019.

She claimed he 'took advantage' of financial difficulties she was suffering around 2019 by calling on her for sexual favors.

Roe accused Brooks of emerging naked from a shower on one occasion 'with an erection' that he forced her to touch. He allegedly grabbed her hand and told her that he fantasized about the moment and wanted her to perform a sex act on him.

In a filing from early October, she included screenshots of a sexually explicit text message conversation that she allegedly carried on with Brooks.

She claimed things escalated in May 2019, when he asked her to travel with him to Los Angeles for a Grammy Awards tribute to Sam Moore. She claimed he booked a one-bedroom hotel suite and refused to provide her with her own room.

She accused Brooks of brutally raping her during the trip, before going on to send her explicit text messages and encouraging her to sext him in return.

The woman also claimed he boasted that he had 'f***ed multiple women in every corner of a hotel room,' 'white, Black, brown, or whatever... on every surface'.

She said Brooks repeatedly spoke of the potential of having a threesome with Yearwood and Roe, and he allegedly exposed himself to her and groped her body including her breasts multiple times, the lawsuit claimed.

Strikingly, Roe believed Yearwood 'overheard [his suggestion of a threesome] on at least one occasion,' and she said his wife was present for one particularly lewd conversation in which Brooks spoke of inventing a shampoo bottle that would double as a dildo.

Roe claimed the conversation made her so uncomfortable that she would not join in, which angered Brooks so much he allegedly 'slammed his fists down on the kitchen counter in frustration so hard that items on the counter moved and he leaned in and spoke in a threatening manner to Ms. Roe.'

Roe's legal team accused Brooks of pretending to entertain talks of a settlement, even as he used her sexual assault complaint to file his own preemptive lawsuit.

In the country superstar's lawsuit, he claimed Roe began suffering financial difficulties following a relocation to Mississippi.

He alleged that she asked him for financial help, which he said he provided, but Brooks said the woman's 'demands for financial assistance only increased, with defendant ultimately asking plaintiff for salaried employment and medical benefits.'

Brooks refused and, he claimed, 'she responded with false and outrageous allegations of sexual misconduct she claims occurred years ago'.

His lawsuits says an attorney acting for Roe on July 17 sent Brooks a 'demand letter alleging a litany of sexual misconduct...ranging from allegations of sexual "grooming," creation of a sexually hostile work environment, unwanted sexual touching, and sexual assault.'

In his lawsuit, Brooks claimed Roe also alleged her belief that he, 'planned to hire someone to murder her.' This allegation was not included in Roe's own lawsuit.

Brooks claimed the demand letter was the first time he heard any of the allegations being made against him.

He stated that the letter threatened to 'publicly file' a civil complaint — the draft of which was included — unless he 'agreed to pay... millions of dollars.'

'The letter referred to various celebrity sexual misconduct lawsuits featuring multi-million-dollar jury awards,' his lawsuit claimed.

In a follow-up letter dated August 23, 2024, Brook's filing says Roe again 'offered to refrain from publicly filing her false and defamatory lawsuit...in exchange for a multi-million-dollar payment.'

He claimed: 'She threatened that if [Brooks] failed to meet this demand, he would face exposure of many millions of dollars 'based on [his] net worth.'

As the Recording Industry Association of America's top solo artist in history, selling nearly 150 million albums, the Friends in Low Places, singer has an estimated net worth of between $300 million and $350 million.

He has at times been the highest-paid celebrity on the planet. Between June 2017 and June 2018, he earned $45 million. In the same period in 2019 — the year Roe accuses him of raping her — he earned $25 million.

Brooks's country singer wife Trisha Yearwood's own wealth brings their net worth as a couple to around $400 million.

Married for 21 years, Yearwood, 60, and Brooks have homes in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as Nashville, Tennessee, and Malibu, California.

Brooks broke his silence on Thursday night, hours after issuing a strenuous legal denial of the allegations of rape and battery claims leveled by the make-up artist whom he has known for more than 20 years.

Sharing an update to Instagram after his show at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Brooks wrote to fans that he 'really needed this.'

Uploading a photograph of the huge crowd who turned out to cheer him on he wrote, 'If ever there was a night that I really needed this, TONIGHT was that night! Thank you for my life!!!!love, g.'