S. Samuel
Miami rapper Flo Rida should probably write a check out to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in light of saving $400,000 in a lawsuit which dates back two years ago.
According to reports, a plaintiff’s decision to file a suit via the mega social networking site ultimately helped Flo avoid the hefty punishment.
Flo Rida has dodged paying roughly US$400,000 in damages to the organizers of an Australian music festival he failed to show up to. The artist, whose real name is Tramar Dillard, was a no-show at the Fat As Butter fest in 2011, for which he’d apparently been paid his performance fee up-front. Promoters of the show, Mothership Music, sued Dillard and his management, VIP Entertainment and Concepts, in the NSW District Court for breach of contract and damages totalling Australian $417,345 ($377,000). With their options to serve papers limited, at best, the organizers’ legal team took the unusual step of filing a summons via Facebook — on the order of Judge Judith Gibson. (Billboard)
The plaintiff’s determination to serve Flo via Facebook was deemed an unsuitable approach.
After an initial ruling in the festival’s favor, the artist challenged the decision in the NSW Court of Appeal. And on Tuesday, the appeal was upheld. The judges declared that Facebook wasn’t an appropriate channel to serve, because there was no evidence that the artist was indeed connected to the social networking page. “The evidence did not establish, other than by mere assertion, that the Facebook page was in fact that of Flo Rida and did not prove that a posting on it was likely to come to his attention in a timely fashion,” Justice Robert McFarlan said in his reasons for judgment. (Billboard)
Last summer, a legal court ruled against Flo and ordered him to cough up the big bucks to concert organizers.
A MUSIC festival no-show will prove costly for US rapper Flo Rida, who has been ordered to pay organisers more than $400,000 after he slept in and failed to perform. The NSW District Court found in favour of the organisers of the Fat as Butter music festival, who were left more than $50,000 out of pocket when the US rapper didn’t show up for an arranged 60-minute performance slot. (Herald Sun)
Prior to filing an appeal, he was expected to pay just over $380,000 in damages and the remainder in legal fees.
Mothership Music, the company behind Fat As Butter, sued Flo Rida and his management company for both breach of contract and damages. Neither the Florida MC nor his reps attended the hearing, and the judge awarded the plaintiffs $380,400 in damages and $37,745 in legal fees. (The Boom Box)
