50 Cent just took a major legal L. A New York appeals court has rejected the rapper's attempt to automatically win a lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend over her viral Instagram posts.
What The Case Is About
The rapper's publishing company, G-Unit Books, sued Shaniqua Tompkins last year after she went viral with a series of Instagram posts commenting on the criminal trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. The videos touched on 50's infamous 2000 incident, as well as his long-running feud with Combs.
50 Cent's attorneys claimed his company paid Tompkins $80,000 back in 2007 in exchange for "all rights to exploit her life story." They said the deal was meant to protect the rapper's reputation and that her Instagram videos violated those rights.
Court Says She Can Defend Herself
50's legal team had asked for a "default judgment" because it took Tompkins months to respond to the lawsuit. But the appeals court wasn't having it. In a ruling on Thursday, July 9, the court flatly rejected the argument.
"Defendant's excuse for the delay in responding, that she did not receive the summons and complaint, was reasonable given that plaintiff failed to provide evidence that defendant lived at any of the addresses where service was attempted," the court wrote in its decision.
Tompkins Claims She Signed Under Duress
Tompkins, who is the mother of 50's son Marquise Jackson, fired back hard in January. She claimed the 2007 agreement was signed under extreme duress and that she was given no opportunity to seek legal counsel or negotiate terms.
"Fearing for my life and for my children's lives, I signed the agreement under extreme duress," Tompkins wrote in a court affidavit.
The case now heads back to a lower court where Tompkins will have a full chance to defend herself and potentially invalidate the 2007 agreement entirely.
