Music producer Lukasz Gottwald, known professionally as Dr. Luke, is a “limited-purpose public figure,” and thus, must prove that pop singer Kesha’s alleged defamatory statements against him were made with “actual malice,” New York’s top court said Tuesday in a 5-1 opinion written by Judge Michael Garcia.

The decision reversed a state trial court ruling against the singer in 2020 that was upheld by a 3-2 Manhattan appeals court ruling in 2021.