ConfidentialTSG Reporting - Worldwide (877) 702-9580

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SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORKCOUNTY OF NEW YORK

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-------------------------------------------XLUKASZ GOTTWALD p/k/a DR. LUKE, KASZ MONEY,

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INC., and PRESCRIPTION SONGS, LLC,

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 PLAINTIFF,

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 v.

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KESHA ROSE SEBERT p/k/a KESHA, PEBE SEBERT,VECTOR MANAGEMENT, LLC, and JACK ROVNER,

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`

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 DEFENDANTS.

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Index No. 653118/2014-------------------------------------------X

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 ***CONFIDENTIAL***

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 DEPOSITION OF STEFANI GERMANOTTA

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 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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 Tuesday, September 12, 2017

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Reported by:

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Rebecca Schaumloffel, RPR, CLR

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Job No: 130239

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FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/29/2019 06:39 PM 

INDEX NO. 653118/2014NYSCEF DOC. NO. 2097RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/29/2019

 

ConfidentialTSG Reporting - Worldwide (877) 702-9580

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 September 12, 2017

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 2:10 p.m.

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 Deposition of STEFANI GERMANOTTA,

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held at the offices of COZEN O'CONNOR, One

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Liberty Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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19103, before Rebecca Schaumloffel, a

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Certified Livenote Reporter and Notary Public

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of the States of New York, New Jersey, and

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Pennsylvania.

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 S. GERMANOTTA

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S T E F A N I G E R M A N O T T A, called

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as a witness, having been first duly sworn by

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a Notary Public of the State of New York, was

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examined and testified as follows:

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EXAMINATION BY

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MS. LEPERA:

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 Q. Good morning. Good morning, Ms.

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Germanotta. I'm Christine Lepera. I am here

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to take your deposition in the case. We

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understand you have given some documents, and

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you have given some documents that have been

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 produced by Ms. Sebert that we will question

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you about.

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 The deposition transcript is going

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to be confidential and the exhibits that we

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use in connection with it also will be kept

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confidential.

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 A. I understand.

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 Q. And let me just say out of the

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gate that I have absolutely no interest in

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 prying into your privacy or your personal

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life. None of that. We are very much

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cognizant and mindful of how important these

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issues are to women everywhere, and that I

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A P P E A R A N C E S:

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 MITCHELL SILBERBERG & KNUPP Attorneys for the Plaintiff 

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 12 East 49th Street New York, New York 10017

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 BY: CHRISTINE LEPERA, ESQ. DAVID STEINBERG, ESQ.

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 BRADLEY MULLINS, ESQ.

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 O'MELVENY & MYERS

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 Attorneys for the Defendant 1999 Avenue of the Stars

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 Los Angeles, California 90067 BY: JAMES PEARL, ESQ.

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 STEPHEN VOLPE, ESQ.

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 GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER 

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 Attorneys for the witness 200 Park Avenue

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 New York, New York 10166 BY: ORIN SNYDER, ESQ.

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 JEFFERSON BELL, ESQ.

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 ALSO PRESENT:

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 Lukasz Gottwald, telephonically

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 * * *

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 S. GERMANOTTA

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want you to understand that. I appreciate

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that, and this is not something that we are

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doing as other than just gathering evidence

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that, unfortunately, we need because of Ms.

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Sebert's situation.

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 A. I understand.

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 MS. LEPERA: I appreciate that.

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 We also have an understanding, I

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 believe on the record, that no one is

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 going to call Ms. Germanotta to trial.

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 We are going to use this transcript

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 for the trial.

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 Is that acceptable to everyone?

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 MR. PEARL: Yes.

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 MS. LEPERA: Okay, Orin, is that

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 okay?

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 MR. SNYDER: I am not a party to

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 the case but whatever agreements you

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 have.

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 MS. LEPERA: I have a number of 

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 documents that we can probably

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 expedite things if I can get

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 authenticated. For example, what we

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 have done, actually, is provide, you

FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/29/2019 06:39 PM 

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 S. GERMANOTTA

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know, all of the text messages that

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Ms. Sebert produced. I have a full

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 binder of them and, you know, we can

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 just range them from Bates stamp to

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Bates stamp. I am not going to

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question you about all of them.

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 MR. SNYDER: We will

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authenticate them all.

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 MS. LEPERA: That's what I would

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like to hear. We will give you copies

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of the binders so you have them for 

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yourselves in case you don't have all

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of them already which I think you

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should have.

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 You wanted to say something?

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 MR. SNYDER: Thanks, everyone.

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So on behalf of Ms. Germanotta, we are

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here pursuant to the stipulation

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ordered by the Court. Ms. Germanotta

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is competent to testify today. I just

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spent the last hour or so with her,

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and she has clear recollection to the

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extent her recollection still exists

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and she -- her -- she is competent and

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 S. GERMANOTTA

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 In that regard, I just

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respectfully request that unless

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absolutely necessary, that questioning

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into her own personal circumstances or 

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her own personal experiences should be

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avoided unless it is in a, you know,

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good faith and legitimate search for 

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the truth.

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 I see very little relevance, if 

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any, to delving into details of Ms.

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Germanotta's personal life, and so I

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 just want to make that clear. In fact

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my client asked me to state that

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clearly on the record. Anything else

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you want to say in that regard?

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 THE WITNESS: I will do my very

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 best to answer.

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 MS. LEPERA: As I said right out

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of the gate, Orin, that's my intention

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not to invade or disturb your privacy.

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 THE WITNESS: I know that.

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 MR. SNYDER: I understand we

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have a visitor on the phone.

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 MS. LEPERA: On the LiveNote,

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 S. GERMANOTTA

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 prepared to testify. But I just want

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everyone to understand that, as she

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has publicly stated in other contexts,

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as a sex abuse survivor, and I know

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this from my own personal experience

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with family members, there are trigger 

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events, and this deposition has proved

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to be a trigger event for Ms.

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Germanotta, and she has experienced in

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the past few hours some PTSD reactions

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which is causing some trauma and

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emotional reactivity. So she is

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crying now the record will reflect.

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That doesn't mean she is unable to

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testify truthfully and competently,

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and she is prepared to do so, but I

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 just want the record to reflect that

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she is in a state of emotional upset

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and may need, from time to time, even

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though we all share the interest of 

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getting this deposition done as

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expeditiously and efficiently as

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 possible, may need to just take some

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 breaks.

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 S. GERMANOTTA

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Mr. Gottwald is here listening from

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his location.

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 (Whereupon, Germanotta Exhibit

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1, KRS_ESI0024484 through '0025887 was

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marked for identification as of this

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date by the Reporter.)

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 MR. SNYDER: We will stipulate

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documents KRS_ESI0024484 through and

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including '25887 are text messages

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 between my client and Ms. Sebert.

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They were received by her or sent by

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her as the text indicates and to the

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extent you need authentication, you

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can -- we stipulate that our client

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showed all these, will authenticate

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each one on which her number appears

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as having been sent or received.

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 MS. LEPERA: That is her number 

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on each of them?

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 MR. SNYDER: Yes.

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 MS. LEPERA: Also, the content

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was provided by her directly, not

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someone on her behalf so that the

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communications --

FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/29/2019 06:39 PM 

INDEX NO. 653118/2014NYSCEF DOC. NO. 2097RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/29/2019