A federal judge denied on Tuesday a request from the actor Jussie Smollett to throw out a lawsuit against him from the city of Chicago seeking $130,000.
“This will be going forward,” U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall told lawyers during a brief hearing Tuesday morning at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
Chicago hopes to recover $130,106 for the investigation it conducted after Smollett in January made the allegedly false claim that he’d been the victim of a racist and homophobic beating.
Lawyers have said they anticipate a short trial in the case, possibly as early as next summer.
Though Kendall declined to toss the case, she included in an 18-page ruling, filed later in the day, a challenge to the city, which has accused Smollett of falsely reporting his attack.
“The city must prove the truth of these allegations to prevail at summary judgment or trial, at which point Smollett will be free to dispute the city’s claims,” Kendall wrote.
