According to court documents, Damon Dash has breached his agreement with his legal representation in a $51 million lawsuit against him by Monique Bunn.
Sanders Roberts LLP, the law firm representing Dash, filed a motion to withdraw as counsel for Dash, Damon Dash Studios, Poppington LLC, and Raquel Horn, citing the defendants’ ongoing breach of their contractual obligations.
The firm alleges that Dash has failed to fulfill their financial obligations under their retainer agreement, resulting in the firm initiating an enforcement action against them.
Felton T. Newell, a partner at Sanders Roberts LLP, stated that the firm devoted significant time to representing Dash, but the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder is seriously behind on his legal bills.
The breakdown of the lawyer’s relationship with Damon Dash caused by not paying his tab has led the firm to conclude that it can no longer effectively represent Dash or his interests in the blockbuster lawsuit.
The court has set a hearing date for May 28, 2024, to address the motion. Damon Dash will still have representation if the proposal is granted since another lawyer named Xavier Robert Donaldson still represents the mogul.
Damon Dash was entangled in a series of legal disputes with photographer Monique Bunn and her lawyer, Christopher Brown. The conflict originated in April 2019 when Bunn stayed at Dash’s Los Angeles mansion for a photo shoot for his Poppington brand.
Bunn accused Dash of inappropriate behavior and also sued him for unlawfully withholding a hard drive containing over 100,000 photographs of celebrities, seeking $51 million in damages.
Although Dash was cleared of sexual assault charges, he was found liable for libel, resulting in a $30,000 award to Bunn for defamation.
Despite this victory, Bunn and her lawyer, Christopher Brown, are pursuing further legal action, including a demand for a new trial over the jury’s decision to award Bunn zero damages for the alleged damage to her property.
In addition to these allegations, Bunn filed another lawsuit accusing Dash and his wife of defamation in a separate incident, seeking an additional $1 million.
This lawsuit arose from claims made by Dash and his wife in a video, where they labeled Bunn a thief over alleged unauthorized credit card charges.
Throughout these legal battles, Damon Dash has vehemently denied the claims, labeling them as attempts at extortion led by Brown.
Brown has already won two other lawsuits against Damon Dash. Brown and E.W. Brooks sued Dash and won after a judge found him guilty of illegally shopping and selling a film about a female crime boss character created in her “Mafietta” book series.
Brown also won against Dash over the movie “Dear Frank.” Brown and his client, Josh Webbber, say Dash still owes a $832,000 judgment.
Webber and his legal team are going after Dash’s shares in the legendary Roc-A-Fella label to satisfy the debt.
Damon Dash’s legal team argued that the lawsuits were part of a series of spurious litigations aimed at harassing him, framing the sexual assault allegations as “fantastical” and accusing Brown of abusing the legal system for media attention.
