Lawsuits
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It seems Cardi B is leaving no stone unturned to collect from Tasha K. She has now asked Tasha’s husband to provide a list of his assets.
As spotted on HipHopDX the Bronx native’s legal team is working overtime to ensure the YouTube personality pays her tab. The media outlet obtained court documents relating to Bardi’s legal win over Tasha K (LaTasha Kebe). On July 18 her lawyers submitted a “subpoena duces tecum” (Latin for “you shall bring with you”); a type of subpoena that requires the witness to produce a document or documents pertinent to a proceeding. This order allows Cardi B, via her legal representation, to review Cheickna Kebe’s financial assets on Monday, August 7 in Miami.
“The examination may continue from day to day until completed,” the documentation reads. “If the examinee receives this notice less than 14 days prior to the scheduled examination date, the examination will be rescheduled upon timely request to a mutually agreeable time.” In essence the review of Kebe’s assets could take more than a day to complete. Additionally, the review will be captured on tape (“The examination is pursuant to Bankruptcy Rule 2004 and Local Rule 2004-1, and will be recorded by video and/or stenographic means before a court reporter or any officer duly authorized.”).
On January, 24 2022 Cardi B was awarded a judgement against Tasha K for starting “malicious campaign” against the rapper with false rumors. The “Bodak Yellow” rapper was issued a verdict and was awarded $1.25 million in damages. Further proceedings brought the total fine against Kebe to $3.82 million. Tasha K has yet to acknowledge the subpoena.
You can read the filing below.
Photo: Bernard Smalls
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In late May, Sean Diddy Combs sued his longtime spirits partner Diageo, citing racism and claiming the brand was falling short in their support of Ciroc and DeLeon. Today (June 27), Diageo announced it is severing its business ties with Diddy.
Diddy filed his lawsuit with the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan. Per the complaint, Diddy’s Ciroc vodka and DeLeon tequila brands were not being pushed with the same gusto as other celebrity brands under the Diageo umbrella, like Casamigos which is backed by actor George Clooney and which Diageo purchased for $1 billion in 2017. According to Diddy, it came down to racism his brands are perceived as Black and “Urban.” Diddy also pointed to issue with the lack of availability of his brands compared to others in the vast Diageo portfolio that includes Johnny Walker, Guinness, Tanqueray and Smirnoff.
Diageo is denying Diddy’s claims.
Per CNN, Diageo is claiming to have invested $100 million to help grow Diddy’s DeLeón tequila while claiming the mogul contributed a mere $1,000.
“This is a business dispute, and we are saddened that Mr. Combs has chosen to recast this matter as anything other than that,” said a Diageo press rep in response to Diddy’s initial filing. “Our steadfast commitment to diversity within our company and the communities we serve is something we take very seriously. We are 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.”
Well today, the other shoe dropped. Diageo, which has been in business with the Hip-Hop mogul since 2007, announced that it was cuttings its brand partnerships with Diddy. The brand intends to arbitrate alleged breaches of their DeLeón agreement while the Cîroc relationship is terminated.
“Mr. Combs’ bad-faith actions have clearly breached his contracts and left us no choice but to move to dismiss his baseless complaint and end our business relationship,” said Diageo in a statement. “We have exhausted every reasonable remedy and see no other path forward.”
Combs’ lawyers responded in kind with a statement of their own.”It’s a cynical and transparent attempt to distract from multiple allegations of discrimination,” said Combs’ attorneys. They added, that Combs has “repeatedly raised concerns as senior executives uttered racially insensitive comments and made biased decisions. He brought the lawsuit to force them to live up to that contract, and instead they respond by trying to get rid of him. This lawsuit and Mr. Combs are not going away.”
Diageo also filed a motion to dismiss Diddy’s lawsuit.
Now it’s on Combs to deliver the receipts.
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Jay-Z’s lawyers are undoubtedly worth the investment. The Brooklyn rapper and mogul just received a cool $7.2 million to finally close the door on a Parlux Fragrances lawsuit, which he won back in early 2016.
In 2016, the “Politics As Usual” rapper was sued by Parlux for $20 million, which claimed that he failed to endorse the cologne. The company asserted Hova didn’t do enough to push his Gold Jay-Z fragrance, which launched in 2013.
But in 2021, after six years of litigation and a trial that lasted several weeks and even saw Jay-Z take the stand, a jury cleared the Brooklyn rapper and said that he did not breach his contract and most importantly not liable for the $67.6 million in damages that Parlux was seeking. At the time, he was denied the $6 million in unpaid royalties he was seeking in a countersuit. However, in early 2022, an appellate court determined that Parlux did owe Jay-Z $4.5 million in royalties. Then about six months later, on August 25, 2022, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Andrew Borrok ruled that the perfume company owed Jay-Z $6.78 million.
And now, TMZ Hip Hop reported that Parlux finally sent Jay-Z a check for $7,259,061.31 to Jay-Z’s team on Wednesday, June 7. The company filed an appeal for the original $6.8 million judgment, but it took yet another L in court last week. Thus they had to finally pay up, with interest.
Jigga wins, again.
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Ye’s lawyers stay busy. Kanye West is being sued by the photographer whose phone he evidently grabbed and hurled back in January.
TMZ reports that Nichol Lechmanik is suing West for assault, battery and negligence.
In January, Ye got into a heated confrontation with paparazzi as he was driving away from his daughter North West’s basketball game, along with his new wife Bianca Censori. Apparently, Ye noticed he was being followed and stopped to confront the photographers.
Lechmanik wasn’t even the first photographer Ye argued with, but soon enough his attention turned to her.
Reports TMZ:
According to one of the photogs, Nichol Lechmanik, Ye was angrily confronting a different paparazzo, going through the man’s pockets … and she claims she feared the rapper might have had a weapon on him.
In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Lechmanik says she was terrified he would come after her next … and he did. Video shows Ye approaching her as she sat in the driver’s seat of her car, recording him with her phone and yelling, “You all ain’t gonna run up on me like that!”
Ye told her, “If I say stop, stop with your cameras.” Then he ripped her phone out of her hands and tossed it — she says it landed in oncoming traffic.
We are going to point out the whole scary Black man trope that’s being insinuated here, but Ye didn’t do himself any favors in that regard. And she thought Ye might have a weapon, really?
Regardless, the incident was caught on video, so expect a settlement. Although Ye was named a suspect in local law enforcement’s battery investigation—and despite a long history of beefing with photographers—he was never charged.
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A bitter taste over failed promises over a tequila brand has led Diddy to file a lawsuit against his partner in the brand, Diageo.
According to reports, the entertainment mogul filed a lawsuit on Wednesday (May 31st) against the multinational spirits company, citing their neglect of the DeLeón tequila brand he co-owns with them. The lawsuit was filed by Combs Wines and Spirits in New York State Supreme Court against Diageo’s North American entity, with the expressed aim of compelling Diageo to comply with the joint-venture agreement both signed in 2013 and other written agreements crafted to resolve complaints.
Diddy, also known as Sean Combs, has also alleged that Diageo engaged in a pattern of racial discrimination when it came to the DeLeón brand, describing it as a “Black brand” and “urban”. He also accused Diageo of neglecting his brand while investing heavily into two other tequila brands including Casamigos, the brand backed by actor George Clooney which Diageo purchased for $1 billion in 2017. Don Julio is the other brand.
Other examples Combs presented in the documents of the lawsuit include confusion on the pricing of DeLeón bottles and his dismay at the decision by Diageo to not provide available agave to DeLeón during a shortage of the key tequila ingredient in 2020 and 2021. Another example cited was a bottle redesign that “was prone to bubbling, which made the product look cheap,” according to the filing.
According to retail data from last year, DeLeón’s availability on shelves in retail outlets is outpaced by a vast margin. It was estimated to have been found in 3.3% of retail outlets nationwide, while Casamigos and Don Julio were available at 34.4% and 36% of retail outlets nationwide, respectively.
“This is a business dispute, and we are saddened that Mr. Combs has chosen to recast this matter as anything other than that,” a spokeswoman for Diageo said to initial press inquiries. “Our steadfast commitment to diversity within our company and the communities we serve is something we take very seriously. We are 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.”
Diddy recently launched his Diddy Direct platform, a portal whose aim is to help consumers and retailers locate his spirit brands.
Social media company TikTok Inc. filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to overturn Montana’s first-in-the-nation ban on the video sharing app, arguing the law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights and is based on “unfounded speculation” that the Chinese government could access users’ data. The lawsuit by TikTok itself follows one filed last week by five content […]
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For more than a decade, tens of thousands of people have been involved in a legal battle against Johnson & Johnson, which has been accused of manufacturing and selling talcum powder products that cause cancer. On Tuesday, the company agreed to pay $8.9 billion to the plaintiffs bringing them a huge step closer to settling the years-long litigation drama.
But there’s still much that needs to be done before nearly 70,000 people start getting paid.
From the New York Times:
The proposed settlement would be paid out over 25 years through a subsidiary, which filed for bankruptcy to enable the $8.9 billion trust, Johnson & Johnson said in a court filing. If a bankruptcy court approves it, the agreement will resolve all current and future claims involving Johnson & Johnson products that contain talc, such as baby powder, the company said.
For the deal to become final, the court would first have to accept a new bankruptcy filing by the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, LTL Management, and the settlement itself; the company also needs to persuade enough claimants to support the settlement plan. Johnson & Johnson created LTL in 2021 in a maneuver to shield itself from the talc litigation, but an earlier bankruptcy filing by the unit was challenged by the plaintiffs and dismissed this year by a U.S. appeals court, which ruled that a bankruptcy wasn’t the right way to resolve the matter.
Despite the fact that dotting all of the “i”s and crossing all the “t”s to make this proposed settlement happen looks like it could end up being quite the uphill battle, lawyers for many of the plaintiffs, including family members of people who died of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, described the proposal as a “significant victory for the tens of thousands of women suffering from gynecological cancers caused by J.&J.’s talc-based products.”
But not all of the claimants are on board with the agreement.
More from the Times:
Jason Itkin, whose law firm is handling 10,000 cases involving women claiming that talc-based powders made by Johnson & Johnson caused their ovarian cancer, said the settlement was “bad for victims” and would be blocked in court. Even if the company succeeds with its filing, Mr. Itkin said, it will have to persuade enough claimants to vote in favor of the settlement plan.
“Even though $8.9 billion sounds like a lot of money, when you spread it out it comes out to not very much at all for the people who suffered,” he said.
And to think, LTL’s initial bankruptcy filing had only set aside a paltry $2 billion for payouts to plaintiffs before the subsidiary ultimately agreed to add the other $6.9 billion to that figure.
It’s worth noting that Johnson & Johnson stated that its settlement proposal is not an admission of wrongdoing, and, in fact, the company denies all claims that the talc used in its products contained cancer-causing asbestos “are specious and lack scientific merit.”
“Resolving this matter through the proposed reorganization plan is both more equitable and more efficient, allows claimants to be compensated in a timely manner and enables the company to remain focused on our commitment to profoundly and positively impact health for humanity,” said Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide vice president of litigation.
For the record, the company pledged in 2020 that it would discontinue its talc-based baby powder in the United States, and, this year, it said it would stop selling the product globally.
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Offset is still not on good terms with his label. The Atlanta rapper and Quality Control are in a legal battle over his master recordings.
As spotted on TMZ the Migos band mate is trying his best to obtain ownership of his solo efforts. The celebrity gossip website is reporting that in 2013 he signed an agreement with the company to produce solo projects. Fast forward to 2015 to QC signing a distribution deal with Capital Records that in turn landed the Rap record label the rights to all of his solo works the Georgia native created from 2018 to 2023.
His lawyer Bryan Freedman claims things changed in 2021 when the MC and the label parted ways and eventually inked a new deal that gave the master recordings back to Offset. But Quality Control says that the new contract only applies to the music he has created since the move to Capital Records but not the records prior.
On Monday, April 3 he took to social media to preview a new “untitled song which seems to address his challenges with his recording home. “They can’t be too upset / I could of kept it to myself, they can’t be too upset / I done broke bread, cut checks, they can’t be too upset / I took that rope off my neck, they couldn’t be too upset / N****s still bite my style, they can’t be too upset / I done laid low for a while, they can’t be that upset / N****s lost all my respect, they can’t be that upset” he raps.
Quality Control has asked that the suit be dismissed.
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Ye aka Kanye West and his brand Yeezy brand are being sued for nearly 300 racks by a former employee who claims she’s owed as much in severance pay after she was allegedly fired without cause in 2021.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the ex-Yeezy employee in question, Dora Szilagyi, claimed the Donda rapper and producer convinced her to quit her job at Addidas—which ended its partnership with Ye last October—so that she could come work for his brand as Yeezy’s “Director of Product Innovation.” She was hired in June 2021 but by December of that year, she was let go for no discernable reason, her lawsuit claims.
From TMZ:
Dora claims she was promised a $275,000 severance payment if she was fired without cause after September 1, 2021 — but she claims it was never paid to her when she was let go in mid-December 2021.
In the suit, Dora says she doesn’t believe Kanye or his company ever intended to follow through on the severance package, and only dangled it to lure her from Adidas.
If what Szilagyi claims is true, that’s a pretty deplorable way for Ye to mess with someone’s livelihood. It’s one thing for the “Jesus Walks” rapper to fumble his own bag by going full YeDolf and alienating brands through antisemitic and pro-Nazi remarks (which his ex-employees have even accused him of making). But now he’s out here getting folks to quit good jobs to come work for him just to be fired shortly after and denied severance? Again, if it’s true, the plaintiff should get all her coins.
Also, maaaaybe it’s time for people to consider the possibility that Ye is not the employer they want.
A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Donald Glover of ripping off his chart-topping Childish Gambino hit “This Is America” from an earlier song, ruling that the two tracks are “entirely different.”
A rapper named Kidd Wes (real name Emelike Nwosuocha) sued in 2021, claiming Glover’s 2018 song was “practically identical” to his own 2016 called “Made In America.” But in a decision issued Friday (March 24), U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said they were anything but.
“A cursory comparison with the challenged composition reveals that the content of the choruses is entirely different and not substantially similar,” the judge wrote.
In reaching that conclusion, Judge Marrero briefly explained how Nwosuocha’s lyrics were a “short, simple, self-aggrandizing proclamation,” while Glover’s song was about “what America means and how it is perceived.”
“More could be said on the ways these songs differ, but no more airtime is needed to resolve this case,” the judge wrote.
Released in 2018, “This Is America” spent two weeks atop the Hot 100 and eventually won record of the year and song of the year at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. It was accompanied by a critically acclaimed music video, directed by Hiro Murai, that touched on issues of race, mass shootings and police violence.
Nwosuocha sued in May 2021, claiming there were “unmissable” similarities between the song and his own “Made In America,” including the “flow” — the cadence, rhyming schemes, rhythm and other characteristics of hip hop lyrics.
“The distinctive flow employed in defendant Glover’s recorded performance of the infringing work’s chorus … is unmistakably substantially similar, if not practically identical, to the distinct and unique flow that was employed by Nwosuocha,” his lawyers wrote at the time.
But in Friday’s decision, Judge Marrero said the “flow” and other similar characteristics “lack sufficient originality” to be protected by copyrights. And “no reasonable jury” could find that the lyrics themselves were similar enough to constitute copyright infringement, the judge said.
The judge also ruled that the case failed for an even simpler reason: That Nwosuocha had failed to secure a federal copyright registration for the underlying composition to his song. “Accordingly, dismissal of Nwosuocha’s complaint is warranted.”
In a statement to Billboard, Nwosuocha’s attorneys Imran H. Ansari and La’Shawn N. Thomas said their client was “understandably disappointed” and considering appealing the ruling. “He stands by his music, creativity, and the independence of grassroots artists to create their own music, and receive credit where credit is due, without the fear of it being apportioned by another.”
An attorney for Glover did not immediately return a request for comment on the decision.