Lawsuit
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The band OK Go has reached a confidential settlement to end a bizarre legal battle with Post Foods over a new line of on-the-go cereal packages called “OK Go!”
Just months after OK Go — a power pop band best known for its viral music videos — vowed to fight back against a “big corporation” that “chose to steal the name of our band to market disposable plastic cups of sugar to children,” attorneys for both sides asked a Minnesota federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit permanently, with each side paying their own legal bills.
The filing said that the two sides had “settled this action on terms agreeable to all parties,” but did not include specific terms of the agreement in public court records, like whether the band would be paid or if Post would change the brand name. Neither side immediately returned requests for comment on Friday (June 2).
The settlement will resolve an unusual legal dispute that pitted a pop band against a multinational food company, asking the question: Will consumers who see a portable snack package of Fruity Pebbles on a supermarket shelf think that a band with a similar name had endorsed it?
The fight started in September when an attorney for the band sent a cease-and-desist letter warning Post that OK Go was “surprised and alarmed” to see Post’s new product line. He claimed the name infringed the trademark rights to the band’s name since it would “suggest to consumers that OK Go is endorsing Post’s products,” or falsely imply that the cereal company had received permission to use it.
“Our client regards this matter with the utmost seriousness and has authorized us to take all steps necessary in any venue to protect its rights,” OK Go’s attorney wrote in the September letter. “If we do not hear from you within 10 days of the date of this letter, we will assume that Post does not wish to resolve this matter amicably.”
A week later, an attorney representing Post responded, saying that the company must “respectfully disagree” with the band’s accusations. The attorney argued that rock music and breakfast cereal were “clearly unrelated” products and that the phrase “OK Go” was merely a common term that had previously been used by many other companies on their products.
In January, Post took the battle to court, asking a federal judge for what’s known as a “declaratory judgment” — meaning a pre-emptive ruling that the company did nothing wrong. Post argued that the trademark rights of a rock band like OK Go don’t extend to an unrelated product like cereal and that the new cups are clearly marked with Post’s own brand names to avoid any confusion.
“Without resolution by this court, Post will be unfairly forced to continue investing in its new OK GO! brand while under the constant threat of unfounded future litigation by defendants,” the cereal company wrote in its lawsuit.
In a statement to Billboard at the time, the members of OK Go said they’d been surprised to learn of Post’s lawsuit.
“A big corporation chose to steal the name of our band to market disposable plastic cups of sugar to children. That was an unwelcome surprise, to say the least,” the band wrote. “But then they sue US about it? Presumably, the idea is that they can just bully us out of our own name, since they have so much more money to spend on lawyers? I guess that’s often how it works, but hopefully, we’ll be the exception.”
According to Post’s lawsuit, the company had offered to pay the band as part of a “good faith effort” to resolve the dispute without resorting to litigation, despite its belief that the accusations lacked legal merit. The company claimed OK Go rejected that offer and made no counter-proposal, leaving Post with no choice but to file a lawsuit.
A former Playboy model who alleges Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her and another woman at his home in 1969 sued him Thursday under a new California law that suspends the statute of limitations on sex abuse claims.
In her lawsuit, Victoria Valentino, 80, says she was an actress and singer 54 years ago, when she met Cosby, now 85. The comedian and actor later approached her at a Los Angeles café, where he spotted her crying over the recent drowning death of her 6-year-old son.
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.
Cosby offered to pay for a spa treatment for Valentino and a friend, and then sent a chauffeured car to pick the women up for dinner. That evening at a steakhouse, Cosby gave them each a pill, she said in the court filing.
“Here! Take this!” the lawsuit alleges Cosby said to them. “It will make you feel better. It will make us ALL feel better.”
Cosby then drove the women to his house, where Valentino passed out on a couch, and later woke up and witnessed him sexually assaulting her unnamed friend, according to the lawsuit. The court documents allege Cosby then “engaged in forced sexual intercourse” with Valentino while she was incapacitated from the drug.
Valentino’s allegations come on the heels of lawsuits last year by six Cosby accusers in New York under a similar provision known as a “lookback” law that allows adults to file sexual abuse cases for allegations that had fallen outside the statute of limitations.
The former “Cosby Show” star, who has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by at least 60 women, has denied all allegations involving sex crimes. He was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era — and spent nearly three years at a state prison near Philadelphia before a higher court threw out the conviction and released him in 2021.
His spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, said Thursday that Valentino’s lawsuit lacks “any proof or facts” and that so-called lookback laws violate constitutional rights aimed at protecting crime victims and “those that are accused of a crime.”
“What graveyard can Mr. Cosby visit, in order to dig up potential witnesses to testify on his behalf?” Wyatt asked in a statement. “America is continuing to see that this is a formula to make sure that no more Black Men in America accumulate the American Dream that was secured by Mr. Cosby.”
The lawsuit in LA County Superior Court was filed nearly two years after Cosby left prison when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction. They found he gave incriminating testimony in a deposition about the encounter only after believing he had immunity from prosecution. The trial judge and an intermediate appeals court had found no evidence of such immunity.
Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a teenager in 1975.
Seven other accusers received a settlement from Cosby’s insurers in the wake of the Pennsylvania conviction over a defamation lawsuit they had filed in Massachusetts. Their lawsuit said that Cosby and his agents disparaged them in denying their allegations of abuse.
Valentino’s lawsuit requests a jury trial and seeks unspecified punitive damages.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is suing alcohol giant Diageo for allegedly breaching their partnership deal for a brand of tequila, leveling accusations of racism at the company and claiming it has treated his product line “worse than others because he is Black.”
In a complaint filed Wednesday (May 31) in New York court, attorneys for the star’s Combs Wines and Spirits claimed that Diageo had “typecast” his DeLeon Tequila as a “Black brand” that could only be sold to “urban” consumers, harming its sales and potential for growth.
“Cloaking itself in the language of diversity and equality is good for Diageo’s business, but it is a lie,” Combs’ lawyers wrote. “While Diageo may conspicuously include images of its Black partners in advertising materials and press releases, its words only provide the illusion of inclusion.”
Combs claims the “unequal treatment” DeLeon has received from Diageo has left his brand lagging behind competing Diageo brands like Casamigos and Don Julio — and that the company then used those lower sales figures to offer even less support for the brand.
“Combs Wines seeks to finally put an end to Diageo’s longstanding misconduct,” the star’s lawyers wrote. “Diageo must be ordered by a court to give Combs Wines the same treatment it gives its other, successful tequila brands. It is time that Diageo’s actions match its words.”
In a statement to Billboard, a Diageo spokesperson said the company was “disappointed our efforts to resolve this business dispute amicably have been ignored, and that Mr. Combs has chosen to damage a productive and valued partnership.”
“This is a business dispute, and we are saddened that Mr. Combs has chosen to recast this matter as anything other than that,” the company said. “Our steadfast commitment to diversity within our company and the communities we serve is something we take very seriously. We categorically deny the allegations that have been made and will vigorously defend ourselves in the appropriate forum.“
In technical legal terms, the lawsuit claims that Diageo has violated a specific provision of the operating agreement that governs the Combs-Diageo joint venture that owns DeLeon. It’s not entirely clear what that provision requires — much of the legal complaint is heavily redacted — but the lawsuit claims it was included in the deal to ensure equal treatment.
“Because he knows that contracts matter more than press releases, Mr. Combs insisted that Diageo agree to certain terms to ensure his brands were not ignored or relegated to second-class status,” Combs’ lawyers wrote.
Among other alleged breaches, Combs claims Diageo violated that provision by placing DeLeon in “far fewer outlets than its other tequila brands” and failing to produce enough of it to keep store shelves stocked.
But Combs’ lawyers repeatedly stressed that their case was not simply a run-of-the-mill breach of contract lawsuit: “Similar to the realities experienced by many people of color in the United States, Diageo’s treatment of its business relationship with Mr. Combs was tainted by racial prejudices.”
At one point, Combs claims he was directly told that “things would be different if he were a white, not Black, celebrity.”
“Diageo, in other words, openly admitted that it viewed Mr. Combs merely as a Black man thatmight prove useful in marketing to Black consumers,” Combs said. “Nothing more.”
Read the entire complaint against Diageo here:
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The GAP has now jumped aboard the sue Kanye West train. Apparently his team made changes to a retail store without approval.
As spotted on TMZ the Chicago, Illinois native just got hit with another lawsuit. This time it is his short lived apparel partner that he severed ties with back last year. Apparently his team at Yeezy leased a property at 1360 E. 6th Street in Los Angeles, California but made several changes to the brick and mortar location that were not permissible as per the lease. Some of the unapproved alterations include constructing an exterior ramp located near the parking lot, making a tunnel in the lot, erecting a wall, uninstalling several ceiling lights and removing three bathrooms. “By making and not repairing or restoring the foregoing alterations of the premises that [West] made without Gap’s participation or approval, [West] breached the strategic agreement and directly and proximately caused Gap to incur expenses to repair and restore the premises” the lawsuit reads.
The property management agency Art City Center has since filed against The GAP and in turn The GAP is seeking Kanye to fit the bill for the damages. The two brands announced a partnership back in June 2020 but things came crashing down when Ye went full antisemite. “Antisemitism, racism and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in accordance with our values,” Gap said in a statement at the time of the scandal. But to hear Kanye tell it he left the deal on his own accord. “Everyone knows that I’m the leader, I’m the king,” West said during a CNBC interview. A king can’t live in someone else’s castle. A king has to make his own castle.”
Kanye nor a representative from his team has yet to respond to the matter.
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A former nanny who performed services for Diddy is accusing the business mogul of wrongfully terminating their business arrangement, prompting a lawsuit in the process. According to new reports, Diddy is hoping to get the lawsuit dismissed in court.
As reported exclusively by Radar Online, Raven Wales-Walden, the nanny in question, filed the lawsuit last year after Diddy hired her to help care for his children with the late Kim Porter. The outlet adds that Wales-Walden claims she’s a relative of Porter, although that has yet to be confirmed.
Wales-Walden says in her lawsuit that the superstar born Sean Combs hired her in 2018 after Porter passed away to assist him with the twins they shared as parents. Wales-Walden says she moved into the home of Diddy to administer the care but became pregnant in 2020 and she requested maternity leave. According to Wales-Walden, the connection with the Combs family became strained and she was reportedly fired.
Adding to this, Wales-Walden says a third party allegedly told her that she was fired because of her being pregnant without being married and setting a bad example for his girls.
The amount of damages Raven Wales-Walden seeks has not been made available to the public.
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A former aide to Rudy Giuliani has filed a lawsuit alleging that he forced her into sexual acts while working for him, among other disturbing claims involving former President Donald Trump.
On Monday (May 15), former employee Noelle Dunphy filed a $10 million civil lawsuit against the former attorney to Donald Trump for sexual assault, wage theft and other misconduct including “alcohol-drenched rants that included sexist, racist, and antisemitic remarks,” according to the filing.
Dunphy went to work for Giuliani as director of business development with the former New York City mayor “abusing Ms. Dunphy almost immediately after she started” working with him in 2019 when he was still in service as a lawyer to the former President. “He made clear that satisfying his sexual demands-which came virtually anytime, anywhere-was an absolute requirement of her employment and of his legal representation,” the lawsuit states. The suit describes how Giuliani allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him soon after she began working for him.
The filing discloses further lurid details, such as requiring Dunphy to record her interactions with Giuliani “anytime, anywhere, as well as Giuliani’s interactions with others,” in addition to his failure to pay her a salary of $1 million that he had to defer because he was in the midst of a turbulent divorce from his ex-wife. The 70-page suit also alleges that Giuliani often demanded that she work naked, in short shorts emblazoned with the American flag or in a bikini. Dunphy states she was fired in January 2021.
Another shocking detail from the lawsuit alleges that Giuliani claimed that he had “immunity,” going on to tell “her that he was selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split.” He also allegedly told her to funnel pardon requests outside of the Office of the Pardon Attorney so they wouldn’t be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. That conversation wasn’t recorded, but Dunphy’s attorney Justin Kelton noted that another Giuliani associate, Lev Parnas, could corroborate the details as he was present for it.
Giuliani denied the claims in the lawsuit, with his spokesman Ted Goodman releasing a statement: “Mayor Rudy Giuliani unequivocally denies the allegations raised by Ms. Dunphy. Mayor Giuliani’s lifetime of public service speaks for itself and he will pursue all available remedies and counterclaims.”
A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday (May 9) dismissed much of Marilyn Manson’s defamation lawsuit against his ex-fiance, Evan Rachel Wood, ruling that many of his claims were barred under a California law aimed at protecting free speech.
Manson (real name Brian Warner) sued Wood last year, claiming her 2021 accusations of sexual abuse against him had been false and that she had “secretly recruited, coordinated, and pressured” other women to make similar allegations against him to destroy his career.
But Judge Teresa A. Beaudet ruled Tuesday that Manson had not sufficiently shown that he would ultimately be able to prove many of those accusations against Wood, including that she had been “pressuring multiple women to make false accusations,” as well as the allegation that she had forged a letter from the FBI.
The ruling came under California’s so-called anti-SLAPP statute — a law that aims to make it easier for judges to quickly dismiss cases that threaten free speech. Wood’s lawyers claimed Manson’s case was exactly that: a prominent musician using a lawsuit to try to silence someone who was speaking out publicly about years of alleged abuse.
Anti-SLAPP laws work by putting more burden than usual on defamation plaintiffs like Manson, forcing them to clearly show at the outset that their case is legitimate. In Tuesday’s decision, Judge Beaudet said Manson had failed to do so.
“The court does not find that plaintiff has demonstrated a probability of prevailing on his [intentional infliction of emotional distress] claim based on the FBI Letter,” the judge wrote, referring to one of Manson’s specific legal claims.
Importantly, the decision did not dismiss Manson’s case entirely, and several claims remain pending against Wood. Those claims will continue into discovery and toward an eventual trial. But the ruling was still a major victory for Wood.
In a statement to Billboard following the decision, Wood’s attorney, Michael Kump, said: “We are very pleased with the court’s ruling, which affirms and protects Evan’s exercise of her fundamental First Amendment rights. As the court correctly found, plaintiff failed to show that his claims against her have even minimal merit.”
Wood is one of several women to accuse Manson of serious sexual wrongdoing over the past two years. Manson has denied all of the allegations, and many of the lawsuits filed against him have since been dropped, dismissed or settled.
Manson filed the current lawsuit against Wood in March 2022, accusing her and a woman named Illma Gore of launching an “organized attack” that had derailed his career. His lawyer said the women had carried out “a campaign of malicious and unjustified attacks.”
But Wood quickly fought back, moving to strike Manson’s case under the anti-SLAPP law: “For years, plaintiff Brian Warner raped and tortured defendant Evan Rachel Wood and threatened retaliation if she told anyone about it,” her attorneys wrote. “Warner has now made good on those threats by filing the present lawsuit.”
Tuesday’s ruling came despite a bombshell recantation by Ashley Morgan Smithline, another woman who has accused Manson of wrongdoing. In a February filing submitted by Manson’s lawyers, Smithline said she had “succumbed to pressure” from Wood to make “untrue” accusations against Manson.
But Wood strongly denied those allegations, and Judge Beaudet ultimately refused to consider Smithline’s statements entirely, saying they had been filed far past a key deadline for submitting evidence. That means the statements about Wood’s “pressure” played no role in Tuesday’s decision.
In a statement to Billboard, Manson’s lawyer, Howard King, said the ruling was “disappointing but not unexpected.”
“The court telegraphed this outcome when it refused to consider the bombshell sworn declaration of former plaintiff Ashley Smithline, which detailed how women were systematically pressured by Evan Rachel Wood and Illma Gore to make false claims about Brian Warner,” King said.
“The failure to admit this critical evidence, along with the court’s decision to not consider Ms. Gore’s iPad, the contents of which demonstrated how she and Ms. Wood crafted a forged FBI letter, will be the subject of an immediate appeal to the California Court of Appeal,” King added.
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Kanye West has another unpaid tab to pay. A court has ordered him and his YEEZY brand to pay a freelancer 300K in unpaid wages.
As spotted on Hype Beast New York based creative got a favorable ruling earlier this week regarding her ongoing claim that the rapper’s label has failed to properly pay her. Back in December 2022 Katelyn Mooney filed a lawsuit against Kanye West and YEEZY claiming that she was informally contract to curate a product shoot for SHDZ sunglasses line. She says she was promised $110,000 for the job but was only paid $15,000 of that. While she did not have a binding contract in place she was able to provide text messages with YEEZY employees to back her allegations.
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Needless to say she was never paid the balance of the monies she was offered to which she says she was forced to “max out her credit cards” and take out loans to meet her personal financial commitments including her monthly rent. On Monday a judge made a default ruling since no one from YEEZY ever responded to the court documents or showed up to court to counter her claims. Kanye West has yet to formally respond to the allegations of nonpayment.
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Soulja Boy has been ordered to pay his ex-girlfriend $235,900 stemming from an assault and kidnapping lawsuit she filed against the rapper in 2020.
In court documents obtained by Billboard, the rapper, born DeAndre Way, must pay Kayla Myers $1,800 for “mental health expenses,” while the remaining $234,100 is for “physical and mental pain and suffering.”
According to Myers’ original complaint, the alleged assault and kidnapping occurred at the rapper’s Malibu home after a party in February 2019 and reportedly lasted six hours. Myers claimed she tried to leave but that one of Soulja Boy’s assistants prevented her from her doing so. She also alleged that Soulja held a gun to her head, issued numerous threats against her and at one point struck her with the firearm.
“Way held the gun to Ms. Myers’ head and told her she was going to die that night and she would not make it home,” the complaint read. “Way next instructed his assistant to take her in the garage and tie her up with duct tape.”
Billboard reached out to attorneys for Soulja Boy and Myers for comment but did not hear back by press time.
This isn’t the only legal hot water Soulja Boy has found himself in over the past few years. In March 2019, the rapper was arrested for violating his probation stemming from a 2014 weapons conviction. The following month, he received a sentence of 240 days behind bars and 265 hours of community service.
In March, the “Crank That” star was one of several celebrities charged by the Securities and Exchange Comission for promoting cryptocurrencies “without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so and the amount of their compensation,” according to an SEC announcement.
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Charlamagne Tha God has made a request for a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit from a sexual assault case, claiming that there is a lack of evidence.
According to reports, The Breakfast Club host and his legal team filed a motion requesting the dismissal of a lawsuit against him by alleged victim Jessica Reid. The lawsuit, filed last year, accused Charlamagne of “willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously engage in penile/vaginal intercourse with a fifteen-year-old female child” when he was 22 in Charleston, South Carolina. Reid stated that the host spread “false, insulting” claims about her when he came forward about the 2001 incident, including calling her a “groupie.”
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“[Alleged victim Jessica Reid] has persisted in broadly disseminating her unsubstantiated claims, ignoring that the South Carolina Solicitor in 2018 declined her request to re-open the case due to a lack of evidence while confirming that no basis existed to bring sexual assault charges against Charlamagne,” the motion reads. “Witnesses had attested to the fact that Charlamagne had already left the party when the alleged assault occurred.”
The 37-year-old pointed to him telling his side of the story in his book, Black Privilege, calling his depiction of the incident “wrong, hurtful and defaming.” She is seeking unspecified damages and a full retraction of his statements. In the lawsuit, Reid alleged that she met the shock jock through a mutual friend, and attended a birthday party thrown for him at the Short Stay Naval Recreation Center on June 8th, 2001. She would allege that she imbibed a drink given to her by Charlamagne, which left her dizzy to the point of collapse. It was at that moment two other men had taken her upstairs, where she was assaulted. She alleges that Charlamagne also assaulted her afterward. Reid previously claimed that her mother actively blocked her from cooperating with law enforcement officials who were investigating the incident.
Charlamagne Tha God would be indicted on the charges of “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” and criminal sexual conduct with a minor in 2001 but would go on to accept a plea deal the next year that was offered by prosecutors due to lack of evidence. He would eventually be sentenced to three years probation.