NEW YORK • Pop singer-songwriter Kesha cannot pursue a countersuit against her producer that would void their business relationship, a New York appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

Affirming a ruling delivered last year by a lower court, the appeals court said Kesha's proposed amendments to her earlier lawsuit, which claimed that Dr Luke had raped her and been abusive throughout her career, were "palpably insufficient and devoid of merit".

Kesha had argued that she was owed royalties by Dr Luke's companies and that she could not perform under her contract because of the dissolution of her professional ties with the producer. "You can get a divorce from an abusive spouse," her proposed countersuit said. "You can dissolve a partnership if the relationship becomes irreconcilable. The same opportunity... should be available to a recording artist."

But the court said Kesha's "counterclaim seeking declaratory relief terminating the agreements on the grounds of impossibility and impracticability of performance was speculative", given that she had continued performing. She had toured in recent years and released a new album, Rainbow, last year.

NYTIMES