Judge denies Jussie Smollet's request to dismiss lawsuit from Chicago seeking $130,000

A judge on Tuesday denied the request from lawyers for actor Jussie Smollett to dismiss a lawsuit by the city of Chicago in an attempt to recoup costs from his racial attack hoax.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall said the case could continue on to the discovery phase.

The city is suing for $130,000, the amount it says it took to investigate the false claims Smollett made of a racist attack that he tried to blame on men wearing "Make America Great Again" hats. He said that they made homophobic and racial comments during the attack, but police accused him of a race hoax when they discovered the men were friends of Smollett.

Smollet's attorneys argued that he could not have known what the police investigation would cost, but Judge Kendall denied the argument.

William J. Quinlan, one of Smollet's attorneys, said that he was eager to expose new facts that would exonerate his client.

"Mr. Smollett has always maintained his innocence and is eager to have the complete facts of the case come out. He looks forward to taking depositions and otherwise bringing to light many of the facts that have been overlooked in the court of public opinion to date," Quinlan said.

"Mr. Smollett is confident that once the full story is available he will be vindicated," he concluded.

Smollett was facing 16 counts related to making a false statement to police, but instead he agreed to community service and a $10,000 fine to have the charges dropped.

Here's a local news report about the judgment:

Judge: Case Against Smollett To Continuewww.youtube.com