Usher faces legal action over herpes claims

Usher is being sued by three people for allegedly failing to warn them he had an STD.
It was recently revealed the ‘OMG’ hitmaker had paid a woman $1.1 million in 2012 to settle a lawsuit after she claimed to have contracted herpes from him and now attorney Lisa Bloom has revealed she is filing a lawsuit on behalf of a trio of alleged victims.
Two of the group are remaining private and are simply named in the complaints as Jane Doe and John Doe, but the third, Quantasia Sharpton, has come forward to recount details of her night of passion with the 38-year-old singer on her 19th birthday.
Speaking at the New York Hilton Midtown, with her lawyer by her side, Quantasia – who does not have herpes – said: "I love Usher’s artistry and music. I went to a concert of his with some friends a few years ago, to celebrate my birthday. I was wearing a birthday crown, and because of that I was selected to go backstage before the show.
"Later a security guard picked me up and asked me for my number. He told me Usher had seen me backstage and was interested in me. After the show, my friends and I returned to the hotel.
"I got a call from Usher on a blocked number, asking me what hotel I was staying in and the room number. About an hour later, he arrived. We spoke for awhile, and then we engaged in sexual contact.
"He never warned me about any STDs. It was just after my 19th birthday. I never heard from him again. When I first heard reports that he had herpes, I couldn’t believe it."
While she may be STD free, Quantasia insists she would never have slept with Usher if he’d disclosed his alleged condition to her and claims she feels he "violated" her rights.
She added: "I had a child a year ago, and I knew I was negative. But I contacted Lisa Bloom to find out what my rights are as a woman.
"Although I am negative, I am upset by the reports because I never would have consented, if I would have known. I would not have taken a risk of getting an incurable disease.
"My health is very important to me, now that I am a mother. I feel that my rights were violated.
"I am speaking out today on behalf of myself and others, some of whom are positive and are embarrassed to speak out publicly. I am doing this so that he does not do this to anyone else."
And the woman urged Usher to speak out and confirm whether or not he has the condition.
She added: "Usher, if you are negative, please say so. If you are positive, you need to warn your sex partners, so that they can make their own informed decisions."
And the attorney echoed her client and urged the ‘Confessions’ singer to speak out.
She said: "The law requires people with herpes warn their sexual partners or abstain from sex. Those are the only two choices.
"Mr. Raymond has not publicly denied the reports that he was diagnosed with the virus in approximately 2009. Nor has he denied the reports that he had unprotected sex with a woman after his diagnosis and transmitted the virus to her without warning her, paying her a $1.1 million settlement in compensation for her injuries in 2012 … No one from Mr. Raymond’s team has publicly denied the accuracy of those documents."
"If Mr. Raymond is in fact a carrier of the virus, as these reports state, my three clients allege that he violated their rights by failing to warn them prior to having sexual contact with them. At least one of my clients has tested posted for the virus and alleges that it was Mr. Raymond who transmitted it. News reports can be wrong, and only medical tests can answer the question here.
"But if Mr. Raymond is negative, by allowing this story to go unrebutted for weeks on end, he has caused many people to be concerned about their reproductive health.
"Mr. Raymond has not reached out to any of them, directly or indirectly. They are not able to contact him, as they say he always contacted them from a blocked number.
"In these circumstances, which are unusual, if Mr. Raymond is negative, we call upon him to either contact all of his intimate partners since his diagnosis and notify them, or to make a public statement, so that people’s minds can be put to rest.
"By filing this lawsuit, we seek to ascertain the truth. We hope the reports are not true. We hope that Mr. Raymond is negative, and this can all be cleared up quickly. We hope that he has not knowingly endangered his sex partners — fans who revered him and were thrilled to receive his personal attention."
The settled 2012 suit claimed Usher had been diagnoses with herpes around 2009 or 2010, but he was accused of "consciously and purposefully" withholding his diagnosis from the unnamed woman and "continued to have unprotected sex" with her.