Steve Harvey Asks Judge To Dismiss Harassment Lawsuit: 'Enough Is Enough!'
Jan. 4 2019, Updated 10:22 a.m. ET
Steve Harvey is asking a judge to throw out the shocking $5 million lawsuit in which Essie Berry accused the TV host of stalking and harassment.
In Los Angeles Superior Court documents filed April 9, 2018 and exclusively obtained by RadarOnline.com, Harvey challenges the claims made by late What's Happening actor Fred Rerun Berry's widow, Essie.
Harvey seeks to throwout Berry's lawsuit against him "on the grounds that the complaint fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against Mr. Harvey."
In the notice of demurrer, Harvey's team alleges Berry is just an "agent" of Harvey's ex, Mary Vaughn, and was enlisted to tarnish his reputation. "Thirteen years ago a Texas court entered a divorce decree between Mary Vaughn and Broderick (Steve) Harvey. Unwilling to move on with her life, Ms. Vaughn has engaged in prolonged patten of harassment and vexatious litigation against Mr. Harvey that has resulted in four separate injunction orders and a judicial finding of contempt against her for violating court orders on at least twenty separate occasions."
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As RadarOnline.com previously reported exclusively, Berry claimed in a lawsuit filed last month that she received an offer to star in a reality TV show titled Widow, Wives and Ex Celebrity Wives, and reached out to Harvey's ex Mary Vaughn to join her on the show in 2013.
The self-proclaimed civil rights activist had no idea, she claimed, that the former couple had a sealed gag order in Texas.
According to Berry, Harvey, 61, then "defamed" her, allegedly claiming she was an "extortionist" and "co-conspirator."
"Steve Harvey continued to make attempts to shatter and murder Ms. Berry's emotional state of mind through the Texas court's with a lie for years," Berry wrote.
"Mr. Harvey made attempts to silence Ms. Berry through malicious prosecution in order to protect his super stardom image."
She claimed Harvey was determined to silence a show that "would reveal the truth about Mr. Harvey and Mary's marriage/breakup, their family life, the ups and downs of being a celebrity ex-wife, and Mr. Harvey's indiscretions."
In a previous lawsuit, Harvey's ex accused him of cheating, stealing her money, and leading her to a mental breakdown and PTSD. A judge shut down the suit in December 2017, claiming the allegations were a matter for Texas court.
Harvey's demurrer filed on April 9 continues: "Undeterred, and unrepentant, Ms. Vaughn has enlisted her acknowledged agent, Plaintiff Essie Berry, to continue her quixotic campaign to tarnish Mr. Harvey's reputation and re-litigate the divorce case."
Harvey slams Berry and says her "rambling and incoherent pleading is woefully deficient" and therefore seeks to to end "her latest misuse and abuse of the judicial system."
In the demurrer it states Harvey's team even reached out to Berry on April 4, 2014 to discuss Harvey's intended grounds for the demurrer but Berry refused to withdraw or dismiss any of her claims.
"Enough is enough," Harvey's legal team argues.
The hearing to challenge Berry's claims will take place June 7, 2018 at 8:30 a.m.
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