COA Allows Battery Suit Againt Clay Aiken

Today the COA dealt with a lawsuit against Clay Aiken by an author who wrote a book about him. The case is Holleman v. Aiken. She sued him because he refused to endorse her book. The COA affirmed the tossing of that claim. But she also sued him for battery based on an incident with his bodyguard: Aiken had allegedly directed his bodyguard to remove her from a chair, which he did by grabbing her arm and yanking her. The COA held that the battery claim gets to go forward, including a claim for punitive damages.