Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge, the man dubbed Drake’s “rich baby daddy” by Kanye West, sought his removal from Lil Rod’s explosive lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs. Attorneys representing Grainge, UMG and Motown Records filed a motion to be dismissed from the case on Wednesday (April 24).
“All of the claims against Grainge, Motown and UMG Recordings (the ‘UMG Defendants’) in the [second amended complaint] are lacking in any legally cognizable basis,” lawyers argued, per court documents. “Every claim is premised on the untenable strict liability theory that when one enters into a commercial contract, the payor under that contract becomes liable for anything that the recipient of payment does with the payment. There is no law underpinning such theory and the baseless ‘general business partnership’ allegation in the [second amended complaint] provides no support. The claims against the UMG Defendants are entirely bereft of legal merit and should be dismissed with prejudice.”
Lil Rod accused Diddy of sexual assault and sex trafficking, among other shocking allegations. The lawsuit linked Grainge to Diddy’s alleged misdeeds, claiming Grainge aided and abetted Diddy’s criminal activity. Grainge’s lawyers said Lil Rod’s accusations against the UMG boss were baseless.
“Plaintiff and his counsel (Blackburn) have blown up a $50,000 claim for underpayment for production services into criminal accusations against Sean Combs and his associates,” attorneys wrote. “Not content to pursue Combs alone, without any factual or legal basis, Plaintiff and his counsel (Blackburn) have also improperly accused Grainge, UMG Recordings and Motown (collectively, the UMG Defendants) of furthering, participating in, and helping to conceal the alleged conduct of Combs and his associates based on a knowingly false ‘general business partnership’ allegation coupled with the fabrication of a non-existent duty to supervise and control how Combs spent his own money.”
Grainge, UMG and Motown asked a New York judge to dismiss all claims against them with prejudice. They await the judge’s ruling.
