Here is the result in plain text:
In a room full of cubicles, workers in headsets read from their computer screens, addressing callers who dialed a 1-800 number. They have a script.
“Were you or your loved one sexually abused by Sean ‘Love’ Combs, known as Diddy, Puff Daddy and P. Diddy?” “If the abuse occurred at a party, please list the name of the party. What kind of party was it?”
Their employer, Reciprocity Industries, is a legal services company located in a low-slung building in Billings, Mont., more than 2,000 miles from the Brooklyn jail where Mr. Combs awaits trial on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges.
For years, the company has helped seed litigation by fielding complaints from people hurt by natural disasters, weedkillers or abusive clergy.
Now it’s the central collection point for sexual assault allegations against Mr. Combs.
Some complaints come in through the phone, others arrive online in response to ads promoted on Facebook and Instagram. (A news conference where a backdrop displayed the hotline in large red numbers made headlines last October.)
By the company’s count, it has received some 26,000 contacts. It has deemed hundreds of complaints worthy of review. Already, the lead lawyer handling these cases, Tony Buzbee, a high-profile litigator from Houston, has filed nearly 40 lawsuits against Mr. Combs. He says more are coming.
In their court filings, Mr. Combs’ accusers describe harrowing abuse. Fifteen plaintiffs say he raped them. Three say they were minors at the time. The accounts are often similar: a drink at a party, unusual wooziness and a sexual assault. All were initially filed anonymously.
The cases against Mr. Combs, who denies assaulting anyone, amount to what’s called a mass tort, in which many people, often drawn by advertising, file claims against a common defendant.
Lawyers for plaintiffs say the cases foster justice for those who have suffered at the hands of powerful people or institutions, such as former Boy Scouts who were sexually abused. But critics say mass torts, and the advertising often aligned with them, can draw frivolous claims that are haphazardly vetted, and that the sheer volume of cases can overwhelm both the court system and defense teams.
It will be months, perhaps years, before settlements, dismissals or verdicts resolve whether Mr. Combs was a serial predator. But his lawyers are already challenging the ways in which many of the cases have been collected.
The company, which denies having a link to Mr. Combs or his representatives, has received more than 26,000 contacts through the hotline, with about 400 cases deemed worthy of review, according to its founder, Jim Van Arsdale.
The cases against Mr. Combs, who denies assaulting anyone, amount to what’s called a mass tort, in which many people, often drawn by advertising, file claims against a common defendant.
One case was withdrawn last month after the plaintiff, who said she had been raped by Mr. Combs and the rapper Jay-Z when she was 13, acknowledged having made mistakes in her account in an interview with NBC News. Her allegations have precipitated a contentious legal battle involving private investigators and courts in multiple states.
In another Combs case, aspects of an anonymous man’s lawsuit accusing Mr. Combs of rape — including the year — were amended after inconsistencies emerged in his interview with CNN.
Experts say the payment of such incentives is an ethical gray area, though they were not aware of any specific prohibition.
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