Def Jam Facing $30 Million Law Suit

[Dj Eskimo]

The drama for Def Jam and Murder Inc doesn't seem to be subsiding anytime soon. Record label TVT Records has filed a $30 million lawsuit against Def Jam Records and its CEO, Lyor Cohen and this week a federal jury has found the company liable for fraud and copyright infringement.

The suit, originally filed in August, stems from Def Jam blocking the release of the Cash Money Click album, which features Ja Rule and Irv Gotti, that was set to drop on TVT Records. In 1994, Ja Rule signed a contract as part of the Cash Money Click with TVT Records and was planning to honor his contract with the label as part of the group in 2002. The suit said that Ja and Gotti received permission from Lyor Cohen to do the project, and TVT gave a $400,000 advance to the group to begin work on the album. In addition, the suit says that TVT and Def Jam hammered out a side letter that said that Def Jam would be able to receive a cut of the album profits. Based on this deal, TVT spent thousands of dollars in producing 11 songs for the project.

The problem began last summer when Def Jam allowed the use of one the songs from the project, "The Rain" on the album, Irv Gotti Presents The Inc. without TVT's permission. In addition, the suit claims that in August 2002 Def Jam rejected the terms of the side letter that they had agreed on for the Cash Money Click project. Also mentioned in the hearings is the inconsistency in Lyor Cohen's testimony. In court documents, Lyor stated that he would not allow Irv Gotti to participate in the TVT project, however, on the stand in court, Cohen said that he didn't remember telling Gotti that he couldn't take part in the project.

"The evidence was overwhelming," Peter Haviland, a lawyer for TVT, told the L.A. Times. "The verdict against Mr. Cohen, personally, for fraud shows that there are some very serious problems confronting Def Jam and Universal Music Group."

Def Jam says that it plans to appeal the court decision and produce more evidence in their defense. The jury will consider the damages of $30 million on April 28.

This decision comes after problems continue to rise for Def Jam and its relationship with Murder Inc Records. Murder Inc Records recently moved out Def Jam offices due to undisclosed circumstances. SOHH.com sources say that employees of Murder Inc were told to pack up their desks last Friday as they were being kicked out of the building due to FBI investigations. However, another report surfaced where Lyor Cohen announced that Murder Inc had to move out of the building due to its expanding film division, producer division, etc. yet, in most corporations, the decision to begin to move to a different office building is either at the end of the month or beginning of the month and not a spur of the moment notice in the middle of the month. Critics say that Lyor Cohen's statement on Murder Inc's move is an obvious "damage control" tactic to maintain the image of Def Jam Records and the public's view of its relationship with Murder Inc.

sohh.com