T.I., the Grammy-winning rapper and Hip-Hop mainstay, is ready to enter a Los Angeles courtroom alongside Sabrina Peterson in September 2026, for a long-awaited defamation trial that stems from years of public accusations, authorized filings and social media fallout.

The federal case, which has been marred by delays, motions and counterclaims, facilities on dueling allegations between T.I. and Peterson, an entrepreneur and influencer.

T.I. filed go well with in December 2024, claiming Peterson falsely accused him on Instagram of being underneath federal investigation for sex trafficking.

Peterson denied the allegations have been false and responded together with her personal claims, alleging T.I. defamed her enterprise, Pretty High Co., by stating she bought hashish merchandise with out a license.

The courtroom has scheduled a settlement convention for November 24, 2025. If that fails, the case will proceed to trial in late September the next 12 months.

This isn’t the primary time the 2 have clashed in courtroom. Peterson initially filed a defamation lawsuit in 2021 in opposition to T.I., his spouse Tiny Harris and a 3rd get together, alleging T.I. once held a gun to her head during a dispute with his assistant.

She claimed the couple’s public denials and statements harmed her status and induced emotional misery.

However, that case was dismissed in March 2025 after Peterson missed courtroom deadlines, didn’t pay $96,000 in authorized charges and didn’t adjust to courtroom orders.

Peterson tried to revive the go well with, arguing that her earlier authorized group had mishandled the case. A decide rejected her attraction in October 2025. Her lawyer known as the dismissal “a miscarriage of justice” and mentioned they plan to attraction.

Meanwhile, T.I. has moved to strike Peterson’s counterclaims within the federal case, arguing her accusations are legally baseless and guarded speech underneath California’s anti-SLAPP statute.

His authorized group maintains that his statements have been made within the context of litigation and subsequently fall underneath litigation privilege.

Peterson’s counterclaims embrace {that a} July 2025 Instagram video by T.I., which didn’t point out her by identify, was meant to trigger her emotional hurt. T.I.’s attorneys argue that the video fails to fulfill the authorized requirements for intentional infliction of emotional misery.

Both authorized groups have requested extra time to finish discovery and make clear the scope of the trial.

In a joint assertion, they knowledgeable the courtroom that they’ve been “cooperatively and professionally engaged in ongoing communications” and that further time would allow them to “meaningfully participate in mediation.”

They additionally cited private issues, together with medical points and a demise within the household, as causes for the delay. Both sides requested a trial date of September 29, 2026.

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