L.A. Reid scored a courtroom win on Monday (August 25) as his sexual assault trial was officially pushed back to early next year. The case had been set to begin in just two weeks.
The legendary producer and label executive—who helped shape the careers of artists like OutKast, TLC, Usher, Toni Braxton, Avril Lavigne, Pink, Ciara, and Mariah Carey—is being sued by Drew Dixon, who accuses him of repeatedly assaulting her in 2001 while he was her boss at Arista Records. Dixon filed the suit in late 2023, and the trial was scheduled for September 8.
Tension started earlier this summer when Reid’s legal team moved to withdraw from the case. At a July 7 hearing, they cited “substantial non-payment” and lack of cooperation as the reasons. Their withdrawal was finalized earlier this month, leaving Reid without representation as the trial date loomed.
On Monday, Reid appeared in Manhattan’s Thurgood Marshall Courthouse alongside possible new attorneys Diana Fabi Samson and Michael DiBenedetto from Aidala Bertuna & Kamins. The lawyers had just met Reid that same day and said they needed more time to prepare. Fabi Samson told the judge it would be “malpractice” to head into trial with less than two weeks’ notice, stressing that while the case is civil, the stakes for her client are enormous.
“For Mr. Reid, this is fighting for his life — his financial life, his reputation,” she said.
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas made it clear she wasn’t keen on postponing the case, reminding everyone that she had warned Reid’s previous lawyers that their withdrawal wouldn’t change the September 8 trial date. She even noted she fully expected any new attorneys to request a delay.
“This is the exact scenario that I warned we are not going to tolerate,” she said firmly.
But things shifted when Reid revealed he didn’t even have the case file. That revelation ultimately swayed Judge Vargas, who admitted that moving forward without the file just two weeks before trial raised “a very problematic” due process issue. Reluctantly, she agreed to push the date back.
“The court is very regretful that it feels constrained to do this,” Vargas said. “[But] there’s a significant due process matter.”
Drew Dixon’s attorney, Kenya Davis, pushed back, voicing concern that Reid could pull the same stunt again by not paying this round of lawyers either. “I’m concerned Mr. Reid will play this game again,” Davis told the court.
Vargas stressed the delay wasn’t to benefit Reid’s legal team but simply because he lacked the file. She warned him directly: “We’re going to proceed with the new trial date, whether you have counsel or not.”
The judge set a provisional new start date of January 12, pending confirmation of witness availability.
Outside the courtroom, Davis told Complex, “Ms. Dixon has patiently waited for her day in court, and we look forward to presenting her case to a jury in January.”
Reid declined to comment.
