Two More Plaintiffs Join $50M Suit Against Smokey Robinson

Two additional former employees have joined a $50 million lawsuit against Motown legend Smokey Robinson and his wife, Frances Robinson, accusing the 85-year-old singer of sexual assault and battery in separate incidents at their Chatsworth, California, residence. The motion to amend the complaint, filed on November 14 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, builds on allegations first brought by four housekeepers in May, spanning nearly two decades of claimed misconduct from 2007 to 2024.

The original lawsuit, filed by four women who worked as housekeepers for the couple, detailed repeated instances of rape and sexual assault by Robinson, as well as workplace abuses including forced overtime without pay, minimum wage violations, and a hostile environment fostered by Frances Robinson. The women alleged that Frances enabled her husband's actions despite prior knowledge of his behavior and frequently berated employees with ethnic slurs. One plaintiff claimed at least 20 assaults during her 12-year tenure from 2012 to 2024; another reported 23 incidents over six years from 2014 to 2020; a third described seven assaults in her one-year employment ending in 2024; and the fourth, who...