It appears that Janet is now being faced with a $20 million lawsuit from someone who claims that by seeking a restraining order, Janet ruined his chances of becoming famous. From “E! Online
One of Janet Jackson’s alleged stalkers wants a piece of her rhythm nation. Eric Leon Christian–a man the pop-funk diva has accused of contacting her by phone and fax more than 90 times, making disturbing statements to her and assaulting her–has filed a $20 million defamation lawsuit against Jackson claiming she ruined his reputation and trashed any chance he had of making it in the music world.
The lawsuit, filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses Jackson of illegally obtaining a restraining order against him in November 1997, causing him emotional pain and suffering and preventing the budding music producer from being hired by potential employers.
The suit demands “restitution for defamation and severe mental and emotional stress he suffered because of the illegal filing of the injunction by [Jackson’s company],” Black Doll Inc.”
Christian’s major bone of contention? That the 36-year-old singer-actress requested and received a restraining order that was, he claims, unwarranted because he was a Maryland native and did not reside in Los Angeles as required by the injunction for it to be active.
He also says Jackson’s company leaked details of the restraining-order application to the media.
The end result, the lawsuit claims, was the disintegration of his rep once several major news organizations, including syndicated TV staples Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and Extra, picked up the story and ran it.
“The statement by the [media] of Eric Christian being a stalker is the direct result of the filing by Black Doll Inc. and is definite defamation of character,” the suit contends.
Jackson has put out the velvet rope against several men over the past few years. In addition to Christian, she has obtained restraining orders against Ronald Benjamin Singleton (who reportedly called himself “the next President of the United States”), Frank Paul Jones (who was sent to jail for two years for penning harassing letters to Jackson) and Jay Thomas Myers (who wrote a John Hinckley-style letter to President Clinton telling him that Jackson was his “capture”).
Add to that the concertgoer who snuck into Janet’s dressing room during a stop on her All for You trek last February and stole some stuffed animals and fan mail and it’s no wonder Jackson’s thinking about quitting the road. (The teen was charged with third-degree burglary and faces jail time.)
Jackson’s reps did not return calls seeking comment on the Christian lawsuit.