Smokey Robinson Asked to Delay a $1.23 Million Legal Bill Until His Appeal Ends. He Got 28 Days.

Smokey Robinson performing at the Chumash Casino Resort in California in 2006. Photo by Dwight McCann/Chumash Casino Resort / CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Smokey Robinson wanted a $1.23 million hearing put off until his appeal was decided. On August 18 a judge gave him four weeks instead.

The 86-year-old Motown singer and his wife had asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin C. Brazile for a stay, which would have held the attorneys’ fees hearing until their pending appeal was resolved. Brazile granted a delay but not the stay. The hearing moves from September 1 to September 29.

Why He Owes Anyone’s Legal Fees

Because of a motion he lost.

Former domestic workers sued Robinson and his wife in May 2025, alleging Labor Code violations and abuse at the couple’s Chatsworth home. The Robinsons countersued for defamation. The workers responded with an anti-SLAPP motion, arguing their allegations were protected speech.

Brazile agreed, dismissing all the defamation portions of the countersuit as protected activity. Under California law, a party who prevails on an anti-SLAPP motion can recover attorneys’ fees. The workers partially won theirs, and they are seeking $1.23 million.

What the Ruling Does and Does Not Mean

This is the part that has to be read precisely.

The anti-SLAPP dismissal was a finding that the workers’ statements were protected speech. It was not a finding that the underlying allegations are true. Those claims remain unproven and untried, and the Robinsons deny them. The trial is not scheduled until October 11, 2027.

What is settled is narrower: the defamation counterclaim is gone, and the cost of losing it is now being calculated.

The Timing Problem

The Robinsons are appealing the anti-SLAPP ruling. If they win that appeal, the basis for the fee award weakens.

But the appeal will not be decided by September 29, which is the whole reason they asked for the stay. The sequence they now face is the one they tried to avoid: argue about a $1.23 million bill first, and find out later whether they should have owed it at all.

What Happens Next

September 29 decides the amount, not the merits. The case itself waits until 2027.

References: MyNewsLA