Kevin Hart has lost his bid to dismiss the $7 million lawsuit filed against him by a former business partner.
The 39-year-old actor and comedian was sued by Stand Up Digital after they accused him of being the reason their mobile gaming app – which had been launched with Hart – failed in the aftermath of his sex tape extortion scandal.
And according to The Blast, a judge has shut down Kevin’s attempt to get the case thrown out of court, as Stand Up Digital has shown enough evidence to have their battle continue.
The judge did dismiss one claim for breach of contract, but ordered the remaining counts – including claiming for $7.2 million in damages – to remain.
In their original lawsuit, Stand Up Digital claimed they entered into a deal with the ‘Night School’ star to produce a game called ‘Gold Ambush’, which was to feature the comedian and his family as characters.
The company alleges they spent $1.25 million on developing the game, which was set to launch in September 2017.
However, just one month before the launch date, Hart publicly confessed to having an extramarital affair and said he was being extorted over a sex tape, which Stand Up Digital believe is the reason their app failed to take off.
They accused Hart of refusing to communicate with them following his confession and sued for damages in excess of $7.2 million.
The ‘Central Intelligence’ actor responded to the lawsuit and filed a counter-suit of his own, stating the company refused to take responsibility for the failure of the app, which was being released into a market where most games don’t make sizeable profits.
His documents said at the time: "[Hart] suffered through an extremely difficult period in his life, where he was subjected to attempted blackmail to prevent disclosure of an extramarital affair.
"[Stand Up Digital] released into an app market where the overwhelming majority of gaming apps make insignificant revenue, and the few successful games, such as ‘Game of War,’ have advertising budgets in the tens of millions of dollars."
Hart also claimed he couldn’t tell Stand Up Digital about the ordeal prior to announcing it publicly, because he was assisting the FBI investigation into his extortion scandal and was not able to disclose any details.
Kevin Hart loses bid to throw out $7 million lawsuit
