Case Name: Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate v. Jane Doe, et al.
Case Number: 50-2023-CA-011904-XXXX-MB
Court: Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida
Role: Counsel for Jane Doe, alongside the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center
Status: Ongoing

Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate v. Jane Doe, et al.

First U.S. Civil Case Against the Tate Brothers

DiCello Levitt represents Jane Doe in the first U.S. civil case against the Tate brothers, who face international sex-trafficking and sexual-exploitation allegations.

Together with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center, the firm is pursuing claims based on Doe’s allegations that Tristan Tate lured her from Florida to Romania and that the brothers later attempted to recruit her into a webcam sex-trafficking operation. Her key claims are now moving forward.

This is a major step toward justice for Jane Doe, who was sued by Andrew and Tristan Tate merely for cooperating with Romanian authorities. The Tates’ unjust defamation lawsuit against her demanded a response, and now the Tates will have to respond to her counterclaims.
—Dani Pinter, Chief Legal Officer and Director of the Law Center at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation

Jane Doe is an American citizen and witness in the Romanian prosecution of Andrew and Tristan Tate.

Doe alleges that Tristan Tate lured her from Florida to Romania under the false pretense of a romantic relationship and that the brothers later attempted to recruit her into a webcam sex-trafficking operation. Romanian police removed Doe from the Tates’ property, and she cooperated with authorities investigating the brothers.

The Tates later sued Doe and members of her family for more than $5 million. Doe fought back with affirmative civil claims of her own, which the National Center on Sexual Exploitation described as the first U.S. civil case against Andrew and Tristan Tate.

In September 2026, Doe defeated the brothers’ effort to dismiss key claims. Her claims for defamation, abuse of process, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and battery may now proceed.

Key Court Decisions

January 18, 2024 — Case remanded to Florida state court. After the Tates’ lawsuit was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg remanded the matter to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County.
February 10, 2025 — Doe brings affirmative civil claims against the Tate brothers. Doe filed her Answer, Affirmative Defenses, and Counterclaims, seeking relief based on alleged trafficking, abuse, retaliation, harassment, and reputational harm. Her pleading also included a civil claim under federal sex-trafficking law.
September 2026 — Key claims against the Tate brothers survive dismissal. The court rejected the Tates’ effort to dismiss Doe’s claims for defamation, abuse of process, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and battery. The ruling allows those claims to move forward and keeps Doe’s affirmative case against the brothers on track.

Case Overview

Jane Doe’s case seeks civil accountability for conduct she alleges began in Romania and continued after she cooperated with law enforcement.

According to her counterclaims, Tristan Tate cultivated what Doe believed was a romantic relationship and persuaded her to travel from Florida to Romania. She alleges that the relationship was a pretext for grooming and recruitment and that, once there, Andrew and Tristan Tate attempted to draw her into a webcam sex-trafficking operation.

Romanian police later removed Doe from the Tates’ property. She then cooperated with authorities investigating the brothers.

Doe alleges that what followed was retaliation.

In July 2023, the Tate brothers sued Doe, members of her family, and others for more than $5 million over statements and conduct connected to the Romanian investigation. Doe denied wrongdoing and later asserted her own claims against the brothers.

Her counterclaims allege that Andrew and Tristan Tate subjected her to harassment, public attacks, reputational harm, and misuse of legal process because she cooperated with authorities. She also seeks civil relief under federal law available to alleged trafficking victims.

The Tates moved to dismiss Doe’s claims, but in September 2026, the court allowed her claims for defamation, abuse of process, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and battery to proceed—allowing Doe to continue pursuing accountability against the brothers in court.

DiCello Levitt’s Greg G. Gutzler, Peter Soldato, Madeline Harding, and Emma Bruder represent Doe alongside the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center, a national organization that advocates for survivors of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

This case is Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate v. Jane Doe, et al., Case No. 50-2023-CA-011904-XXXX-MB, in the Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida.