JAY-Z’s Team ROC has filed a legal amicus brief to challenge the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against the government of Kansas City, Kansas. Five women brought forward the original civil rights lawsuit, alleging they were victims of assault and extortion by late KCKPD police officer Roger Golubski and multiple other law enforcement defendants.
“In 2023, these women filed a lawsuit against the KCKPD and KCK government for creating an environment that enabled police officers like Golubski to stalk, assault, beat, rape, harass, frame, and threaten Black citizens,” Team ROC wrote in a statement caught by Complex.
In dismissing the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse argued that the two-year statute of limitations had passed. In the amicus brief, Team ROC claimed that the woman waited until Golubski's passing out of fear of retribution.
“In the amicus brief, Team ROC and fellow advocates argue that the clock on the statute of limitations did not start to run until after Golubski’s death, as while he was alive, the victims were justifiably afraid to come forward to report the abuse due to Golubski’s decades-long stronghold on the greater KCK community,” Team ROC wrote. “If this appellate court agrees with the victims’ view on the timeliness of the filing of these types of suits, this would set a major precedent for similar cases nationwide, leading to increased accountability and visibility surrounding systematic abuse.”
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Team ROC wrote the brief partnership with Angela T Rye, Esq., Principal/CEO, IMPACT Strategies; Barry Scheck, Co-Founder & Special Counsel, Innocence Project and Professor of Law, Cardozo School of Law; Justice Strikeforce; Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence; Midwest Innocence Project; MORE2; Terence Crutcher Foundation; The Gathering for Justice; and Until Freedom.
"This isn’t just about one corrupt officer or department —it’s about protecting communities across the country from institutional misconduct by state officials,” Team ROC Managing Director Dania Diaz further said. “Setting the right example in places like Kansas City, Kansas —where community members have been subject to decades of harm— is critical to ensure that government officials are being transparent and will be called to answer for their conduct if they violate the law.”
