Beliebers Rejoice: Justin Bieber Paternity Suit Dropped!

Amid threats of serious legal action by the pop star's attorneys and getting abandoned by her own lawyers, Mariah Yeater quietly withdraws her claims from court

By Gina Serpe, Claudia Rosenbaum Nov 16, 2011 7:24 PMTags
Justin BieberRamey Photo

The kid is not his son. And the self-proclaimed baby mama is not what she seemed. Shocking, right?

Apparently content with her 15 minutes—and, more likely, scared straight in the wake of Justin Bieber and his attorneys ready and willing to not only call her bluff but ensure that her and baby would be paying legal fees for generations to come—E! News confirms that Mariah Yeater has quietly withdrawn her paternity suit against the pop star.

What brought about this change of heart?

Well, common sense, for one.

A source at the San Diego courthouse, where the petition was filed, confirmed to E! News that Yeater filed a motion to dismiss her paternity action on Nov. 9. However, as paternity cases are sealed, no documents pertaining to her filing or its dismissal will be released by the court.

Bieber has maintained his innocence in the 20-year-old Yeater's claimes that he fathered her 4-month-old son. His camp vowed to "vigorously pursue all available legal remedies to protest Justin and hold those involved with bringing this suit accountable for their actions."

In other words, cha-ching.

As if that weren't enough, Bieber also said he would take a DNA test to disprove his paternity as soon as he returned to the U.S. from his performance schedule abroad—all of which seemed to strongly indicate that he was 100 percent certain of his lack of culpability, despite Yeater's public insistence to the contrary.

But it wasn't until Yeater's past came to light that her story really began to unravel. Turns out, this wasn't her first time trying to pin paternity on someone who wasn't the father. An her history, coupled with Bieber's serious legal threats, caused her lawyers to abandon ship.

"I do not currently represent Mariah Yeater," her former San Diego-based attorney, Matt Pare, told E! News Wednesday.  (There is new speculation this morning that Yeater might try again with a new set of attorneys, but so far that report has not been confirmed.)

We'd say better late than never, but we think never would have been better in this case—especially considering the fact that, by the sounds of it, Bieber's team hasn't ruled out pursuing actions of their own against Yeater (however, despite reports to the contrary, they have never expressly stated that they would sue the accuser).

"As we've said from the beginning, it's sad that someone would fabricate such a malicious, defamatory, and demonstrably false claim," spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said. "We'll continue to consider all of our options to protect Justin."

—Additional reporting by Sharareh Drury