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Nick Carter’s Defamation Lawsuit Against Rape Accuser to Continue, Judge Rules

A judge ruled Tuesday that Nick Carter can move forward with his counterclaim against Shannon Ruth, who accused him of raping her when she was 17.

A Nevada Supreme Court judge ruled Tuesday that Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter can move forward with his counterclaim against Shannon “Shay” Ruth, who accused him of raping her when she was 17 years old on a tour bus. In December 2022, Ruth filed a sexual battery lawsuit in Clark County, Nevada, and claimed that in 2001, Carter, then 21, picked her out of a line of fans seeking autographs after a concert when she was 17 years old. Her lawsuit arrived after Melissa Schuman, a former member of teen-pop group Dream, stepped forward in 2017 and accused Carter of sexually assaulting her in 2003 when she was 18 years old, during the time they were shooting the 2004 made-for-TV movie The Hollow.

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