Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz named in 3rd-party counterclaim alleging he paid for sex with 17-year-old girl – Edmonton
The proprietor of the Edmonton Oilers hockey crew is denying allegations made in a U.S. third-party counterclaim filed in Nevada earlier this month that claims he paid a lady $75,000 for intercourse when she was 17 years outdated.
Daryl Katz just isn’t truly being sued and the allegations should not being made by the individual the third get together accused him of paying for sexual favours. Nevertheless, the declare calls on him to pay half or all of any damages an American couple could also be required to pay relying on the result of a sexual misconduct lawsuit filed in opposition to them by the girl they allege Katz paid to have intercourse with when she was a teen.
The allegations in opposition to Katz have been made in a third-party counterclaim by the couple that’s being sued by a gaggle of girls who allege they sexually abused them. Not one of the allegations made in both declare have been examined in courtroom.
The third-party counterclaim was filed by Mitchell Taylor Button and Dusty Button on July 8, 2022, naming the seven girls suing them in addition to 5 different individuals, together with Katz. Dusty Button, a ballerina, and her husband taught ballet to college students. Of their third-party counterclaim, they allege the lawsuit in opposition to them is an extortion try. They describe the accusations in opposition to them as “fabrications.”
The Buttons allege Sage Humphries engaged in sexual actions with older males whereas she was a teen, together with Katz. They are saying Humphries was 17 and Katz was 53 when the alleged monetary transaction passed off.
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The counterclaim says Dusty Button danced with Humphries on the Boston Ballet. The amended lawsuit in opposition to the Buttons, filed by Humphries and 6 different girls, was filed on Sept. 23, 2021. The Buttons say their reputations within the dance world and past have been “unjustly ruined.”
The Buttons acknowledge that they had a sexual relationship with Humphries however say it was consensual and solely started when she “had reached the age of majority.” Additionally they say Humphries lived with them.
Courtroom paperwork obtained by World Information present screenshots of textual content messages that have been allegedly exchanged between Sage Humphries — the lead plaintiff within the lawsuit filed in opposition to the Buttons — and Katz.
A part of the screenshots learn “despite the fact that u r smart past your years given our respective ages it could be taken the fallacious means.” Sending cash can also be mentioned within the textual content messages. Whereas intercourse just isn’t talked about within the texts, one of many individuals texting seems to need the opposite individual to maintain issues “simply between us.”
Katz’ lawyer, Robert Klieger, supplied a press release to World Information on Thursday. In it, he says his consumer “denies the allegations in opposition to him by Mitchell Taylor Button and Dusty Button with out reservation.”
“There has by no means been a sexual relationship of any form between Mr. Katz and Ms. Humphries,” the assertion reads partially. “Critically, the allegations in opposition to Mr. Katz should not being made by Ms. Humphries. The accusations are as an alternative being made by the Buttons, who Ms. Humphries and 6 different girls have accused of exploiting their place of energy and affect within the dance world to sexually abuse younger dancers throughout the nation.
“Mr. Katz has by no means met the Buttons, and their false accusations in opposition to him are a clear and pathetic try to distract consideration from the abhorrent acts with which they stand charged.”
Klieger referred to as the allegation “baseless and scurrilous” and stated Katz will search damages in response.
In a statement issued to NBC News, Humphries’ lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, stated her consumer “had a enterprise relationship with Mr. Katz and there was by no means any sexual relationship between them.”
McCawley added that Humphries and Katz had been speaking about film tasks and that Humphries might have obtained funds from the Oilers’ proprietor in reference to a enterprise deal.
“Abusers usually attempt to weaponize the allegations introduced in opposition to them, and that’s precisely what is occurring right here,” McCawley informed NBC Information. “The counterclaims the Buttons have filed falsely and recklessly implicate others, together with Daryl Katz, and are a factually unfounded try to painting the ladies they abused as liars.”
Authorized skilled Ari Goldkind informed World Information third-party counterclaims are sometimes sophisticated.
“You probably have A suing B, B might say to themselves, ‘Properly actually, this will all be laid by the hands or ft of C,’” he stated. “So they bring about in a third-party declare, any individual that the unique plaintiff — individual A — didn’t sue.
“When you’re the lawyer for a third-party recipient of a declare and also you simply suppose there’s nothing to see right here, you attempt to get out of it on the earliest alternative so that you’re not dragged into the mud of a trial or litigation.”
–With recordsdata from World Information’ Morgan Black and Megan Robinson
