Universal Music Calls Fred Durst's Royalties Lawsuit 'Fiction' as January Dismissal Hearing Looms
Universal Music Group (UMG) has responded to Fred Durst's unpaid royalties lawsuit, calling the claims "fiction" and requesting dismissal ahead of a January hearing.
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Key Points of UMG's Response:
- UMG denies concealing owed royalties through payment software
- The label claims discussions about royalty payments occurred in January 2023 with the plaintiffs' business manager
- Business manager Paul Ta initially stated that most band members had "sold/assigned their share" of royalties
- Ta corrected this misstatement in April 2024
- Plaintiffs received multimillion-dollar payments in August
UMG's Main Arguments for Dismissal:
- Flip Records claims must be dismissed as they're subject to New York jurisdiction, not California
- Contract termination claims are invalid as there wasn't a complete failure to make payments
- Deal terms explicitly prevent termination for royalty-accounting reasons
- Varying advance balances resulted from offsetting positive and negative balances across accounts
UMG acknowledges an "embarrassing mistake" in delayed profit-split payments to Flawless Records but maintains this wasn't intentional concealment.
The dismissal hearing is scheduled for January 6th, where these arguments will be formally presented to the court.
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