What happens next in case against John Travolta?
Dr. Keith Ablow examines claims against actor
LOS ANGELES – Just when it looked like John Doe # 1 was out of the picture in the John Travolta massage-gone-wrong allegations scandal, he pops back in.
On Friday, the mystery masseur was dropped by his lawyer, Okorie Okorocha, after the date of the alleged sexual assault in Los Angeles didn't match up with Travolta's apparent whereabouts (New York).
On Monday, Doe # 1 filed a motion to dismiss the $2 million suit.
But now, celebrity attorney Gloria Allred says she's taking him as a client.
READ: New Travolta movie still a 'go.'
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"I represent John Doe # 1. Mr. Doe's lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice which means that he is still legally entitled to file another lawsuit against John Travolta if he chooses," Allred said in a statement to RadarOnline.com. "We are in the process of conferring with him regarding the next steps, which he may wish to take. Our client and our firm has no further comment at this time."
His original attorney Okorocha is still representing “John Doe # 2,” another unnamed masseur who promptly came forward last week with similar allegations that the A-list actor attempted to sexually assault him while working at a hotel spa in Atlanta.
“My client is completely vindicated by Doe #1 dropping his claims and dismissing his lawsuit,” Travolta’s attorney Marty Singer told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column in a statement. “We fully expect that my client will similarly be vindicated with respect to Doe #2, as well as with respect to any other person who makes meritless claims against John Travolta.”
California-based attorney David E. Wohl told us that “more and more this ill-advised lawsuit is looking like an attempted money-grab gone terribly wrong.”
“The lesson all lawyers should learn from this is that when approached by a potential client making far-flung claims about being injured somehow by a high profile celebrity, you'd best investigate the matter thoroughly before going public with the claims, and certainly before actually filing a lawsuit based on the claims,” he said.
Apparent inconsistencies are also starting to surface with regards to the second masseur suing the “Grease” star for sexual battery. According to Radar Online, an email sent to two female bosses and a male general manager at the high-class Atlanta hotel by the plaintiff a day after the alleged incident went down did not mention the assault. Rather, “John Doe #2” advocated his disappointment that he experienced and was subjected to “insubordination, disrespect and unnecessary gossip” as a member of the management team and wished to step down and resume his former position “as a massage therapist and esthetician.”
But despite Singer’s threats to sue the accusers and/or their attorney for defamation, California-based attorney Mitchell Langberg says that could prove quite difficult.
“They can’t sue for anything that was in the complaint, and from my understanding they (plaintiff and attorney) were very careful and coy with their public statements, the lawyer was not out there repeating the allegations,” he explained. “For Travolta to sue, he would have to prove not only that the accusations were false, but that the lawyer then knew they were false. Travolta would basically have to open up his whole life and put it all on trial to prove the incidences never happened.”
Okorocha did not respond to a request for further comment.
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