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In a new countersuit, Usher is asking a judge to drop the lawsuit his accuser Laura Helm has filed against him and denied he knowingly infected her with herpes.
Helm dropped her lawsuit against Usher but in May, she filed a suit for unspecified damages alleging negligence, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud. She claimed following her numerous sexual encounters with Usher in 2017, he hid his status from her, allegedly hiding his penis and racing to the bathroom when he ejaculated.
Helm, who said Usher initiated unprotected sex with her against her will, eventually discovered a bump inside her cheek and a painful bump on her vulva and tested positive for herpes simplex virus 2.
In a new filing obtained by Bossip, however, Usher says Helm didn’t prove she contracted herpes from him and states she assumed the risks when she engaged in “unprotected, casual consensual sex” with the “Climax” singer, whom she allegedly didn’t require to wear a condom.
According to Usher, his accuser’s diagnosis isn’t his fault and he implied she may have contracted the virus from another partner before she hooked up with the crooner. He pointed out Helm’s complaint didn’t say if they talked about one another’s STD status before engaging in oral and vaginal sex. Usher also claimed that since the STD can be asymptomatic, Helm’s absence of symptoms before having sex with him doesn’t mean she didn’t have herpes before him.
Usher said a “duty of care” isn’t owed to Helm and she knew the risks that come with having unprotected sex. He wants the suit dismissed and his attorneys’ fees paid by his accuser.
As of Monday, a judge has yet to rule on the case.
The report comes after a judge ruled this month to have all three of Usher’s herpes suits — one from Quantasia Sharpton and two others from an anonymous man and anonymous woman — heard in a Los Angeles court. This despite Usher claiming “California has no interest in this dispute whatsoever,” regarding Jane Doe’s suit over allegations that occurred outside of California.
