
Janice Combs loses her first dismissal bid as Kirk Burrowes presses claims over his alleged 25 percent Bad Boy stake.
Janice Combs suffered a procedural defeat, but a federal judge has not decided Kirk Burrowes’ ownership claims against her.
Judge Jennifer H. Rearden denied Combs’ first dismissal motion as moot in a September 15 order obtained exclusively by AllHipHop.
Burrowes replaced his original complaint in November 2025, leaving her first motion aimed at a document that no longer controls the case.
The ruling does not decide whether Burrowes proved fraud or deserves ownership, while Combs’ renewed dismissal bid remains pending.
Join Us
AllHipHop’s Daily News Service
Delivering news to inboxes since 1999. We break it. They take it. Get it first, straight from AllHipHop.
Burrowes sued Combs, whose legal name is Janice Smalls, alone because he claims she received and kept his disputed stake.
He filed a separate case against Diddy two days later that raises broader claims involving abuse, coercion and alleged career sabotage.
The amended complaint says Combs knowingly benefited from the 1996 transfer and hid her role until Burrowes learned about it in 2024.
Burrowes wants his claimed 25 percent stake restored, unpaid profits, at least $100,000 and a complete audit of Bad Boy’s finances.
AllHipHop previously reported that Burrowes says he helped launch Bad Boy in 1993 and became president, holding 25 percent of its stock and 15 percent of profits.
His account says Diddy and attorney Kenneth Meiselas entered his office in 1996 carrying company papers and a baseball bat.
“So he came into my office one day, unexpected, him and Kenny Meiselas. They had it planned out. Kenny had the briefcase with all the stock certificates in it and Diddy had the bat. Not like, I’m gonna beat the s### out of you with the bat, but he had the bat like, man, we got to do this, this has to happen,” Burrowes told The Art of Dialogue.
Burrowes says he surrendered 25 shares without payment, and that the interest later went to Combs as part of the alleged scheme.
“I didn’t feel I was gonna get beat down in that office, in all honesty. I got people that can jump out of the shadows in a minute. I wasn’t threatened by him. What I was messed up over was the fact that I started this company with you from day zero, and now the one solid thing that you told me I had, you want to take that back,” Burrowes said.
Combs denies owning Bad Boy stock or directing the encounter, while her lawyers argue the allegations arrived decades too late.
Earlier cases over the disputed stake ended on deadline and pleading grounds, without any court deciding whether the alleged confrontation happened.
Her second bid to end the case reached the docket on August 31, with briefing expected to continue through September.


