CHICAGO — A judge who ordered a default judgment against R. Kelly after the singer failed to respond to a lawsuit filed by one of his alleged victims now says the suit can proceed.
Cook County Judge Moira Johnson on Wednesday reinstated the lawsuit after Kelly's attorneys said the singer never responded to it because he's illiterate and couldn't read the documents when he was served with them. Neither party objected to reinstating the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed by a woman identified as "H.W.," who is one of the four women that Kelly is charged in a criminal case with sexually abusing. She contends she began a sexual relationship with Kelly in 1998, when she was 16.
Kelly is scheduled to appear at another hearing Wednesday in his unrelated child support case.
Kelly denies the sexual abuse charges levied against him, saying in a March interview with CBS News' Gayle King, "I didn't do this stuff."
The singer is facing 10 counts of felony aggravated sexual abuse in Chicago and has pleaded not guilty to those charges.