{"id":7083,"date":"2025-07-26T08:23:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T08:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/phoebe-bridgers-gets-revenge-in-lawsuit-over-abuse-claims-on-instagram\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T08:23:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T08:23:58","slug":"phoebe-bridgers-gets-revenge-in-lawsuit-over-abuse-claims-on-instagram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/phoebe-bridgers-gets-revenge-in-lawsuit-over-abuse-claims-on-instagram\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoebe Bridgers Gets Revenge in Lawsuit Over Abuse Claims on Instagram"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tPhoebe Bridgers has won another big court judgment against a recording studio owner who unsuccessfully sued the star for defamation after she accused him of \u201cgrooming\u201d on social media.<\/p>\n

\n\tThree years after Bridgers won a court ruling dismissing Chris Nelson<\/strong>\u2019s libel case \u2014 a lawsuit she said was \u201cfrivolous\u201d and meant to silence her abuse allegations \u2014 a Los Angeles judge on Thursday (July 24) awarded the singer $392,070, largely to cover hefty legal bills she spent defending herself.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new award is on top of an earlier judgment of $496,608 already won by Bridgers, meaning Nelson now owes the star a whopping $888,768 over his failed legal action. A big portion of the new penalty is simply interest on the original, which Judge Joseph Lipner noted Nelson has \u201crefused to pay\u201d for more than two years.<\/p>\n

\n\tNelson, the owner of Los Angeles\u2019 Sound Space recording studio, sued Bridgers in 2021, claiming she had defamed him by posting false information to Instagram as part of a \u201cvendetta\u201d designed to \u201cdestroy plaintiff\u2019s reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawsuit centered on a series of October 2020 posts, in which Bridgers said she had \u201cwitnessed and can personally verify much of the abuse (grooming, stealing, violence) perpetuated by Chris Nelson.\u201d She also directed her followers to a separate thread from friend Emily Bannon, which contained more extensive allegations against Nelson.<\/p>\n

\n\tHer lawyers quickly moved to end the case, arguing that Nelson was abusing the court system to \u201cchill Ms. Bridgers\u2019 allegations of abusive conduct, which are protected by the First Amendment.\u201d Her lawyers invoked California\u2019s \u201canti-SLAPP\u201d law, which bars lawsuits that might silence free speech and foists monetary penalties on those who bring them.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn November 2022, a Los Angeles judge sided with Bridgers, tossing the case out of court. Months later, the same judge awarded the singer $496,608<\/a>, citing the anti-SLAPP law\u2019s so-called fee-shifting provision that requires an unsuccessful accuser to reimburse their target\u2019s legal bills.<\/p>\n

\n\tNelson appealed the dismissal of his case, but a California appellate court upheld the decision<\/a> in November, ruling that Bridgers\u2019 claims of abuse were clearly the kind of speech that\u2019s protected under the anti-SLAPP law.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe post related to public concerns, especially prevalent in light of the #MeToo movement, about men using their power to abuse women,\u201d the appeals court wrote at the time. \u201cWhen public allegations of abuse are corroborated, it serves not only to further the discussion of the specific claims at issue, but also to embolden others who are being victimized to come forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith that ruling in hand \u2014 and the original judgment still unpaid \u2014 Bridgers went after Nelson again. In March, she demanded that he repay the money she spent litigating the appeal, as well as substantial interest on the original. She said he had \u201cnot paid a penny\u201d of the original fine and was \u201cevading collection efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAttorneys for Nelson did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday (July 25).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phoebe Bridgers has won another big court judgment against a recording studio owner who unsuccessfully sued the star for defamation after she accused him of \u201cgrooming\u201d on social […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[362,6530,300,4585,303,6529,2216],"class_list":["post-7083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-abuse","tag-bridgers","tag-claims","tag-instagram","tag-lawsuit","tag-phoebe","tag-revenge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}