The judge who threw out Kesha’s abuse claims against her longtime producer at Sony, Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, in April may not have been fit to deliver an impartial ruling.



Turns out New York State Supreme Court Judge Shirley Werner Kornreich is married to the attorney Ed Kornreich, whose firm represents Sony/RCA. The connection begs the question of whether Kornreich and her husband stood to benefit financially from the outcome of the her decision. That question alone might be enough to have made Kornreich’s handling of the case improper.


A source identified as “a music insider” by the New York Post, which reported the story first on Tuesday, told the paper, “There seems to be a strong conflict of interest.”

E! News dug up public records that confirm that couple share a Manhattan address.


Judge Kornreich rejected all of Kesha’s claims in April, including that she was the victim of a hate crime on the grounds that, “Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime.”

Kornreich also rejected Kesha’s request to be released from her contract with Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records, a Sony imprint, which prohibits her from recording with another label.


Earlier this month, Kesha dropped a separate case against Dr. Luke in California, in which he stood accused of sexual assault and battery, sexual harassment, gender violence, and other charges.

Kesha’s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli said in a statement at the time that his client will continue pursuing an appeal to the New York court’s decision.