Mr. Vegas’ Lawyer Quits After Telling Court There’s A “Tentative Settlement” With VP Records
DancehallMag has learned that an attorney for Mr. Vegas now wants to withdraw as counsel in his lawsuit against VP Records citing a “breakdown in communications” with the Dancehall star, one day after she argued against the dismissal of the case and informed the Court that a “tentative settlement” was already reached in the matter.
The suit, filed in November 2020 in the Eastern District Court of New York, accused VP of breach of contract, copyright infringement, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment.
It involves Mr. Vegas’ hit songs Heads High (1997) and its Kill ‘Em Wid it Re-mix (1998), Sucky Ducky (1998), Hot Wuk (2006), and Gallis (2009). It also involves four songs from Sean Paul’s debut album Stage One (2000), namely Haffi Get De Gal Ya (Hot Gal Today), Tiger Bone, and the skit Nicky, all of which featured Mr. Vegas, and Check It Deeply, which was produced by Mr. Vegas.
On Friday (November 4), Vegas’ entertainment lawyer Colleen (Ni Chairmhaic) Kerwick wrote a letter to judge Pamela K. Chen, asking permission to withdraw herself from the lawsuit.
She cited a “breakdown in communications” with Mr. Vegas, whose real name is Clifford Ray Smith, and his company MV Music LLC, the court filing, obtained by DancehallMag, shows.
Kerwick told judge Chen that Vegas would continue to be represented by attorney Heather Cunningham, who has also represented him in the suit.
In what may have been her final act as Vegas’ counsel in the matter, Kerwick had written another letter to the judge on Thursday (November 3), in which she revealed that a “tentative settlement was reached on September 7, 2022” between the Heads High artist and the record company.
“Mediation is scheduled to continue via a submission on November 23, 2022 and an appearance on November 30, 2022,” she added.
In the letter, she also argued against VP’s pending motion to dismiss the case, which cited, among other things, Mr. Vegas’ alleged failure to register his copyrights for some of the songs before the lawsuit was originally filed in late 2020.
Court filings show that Vegas’ copyright registrations for Hot Gal Today, Gallis, Heads High, and Hot Wuk were only completed in December 2021.
Kerwick outlined that the conflicts between New York law and Jamaican law should be a factor as the judge considers whether the case should be dismissed for this reason.
“These [conflicts] include, but are not limited to, a [copyright] registration requirement versus no registration requirement; a shorter versus longer period of copyright protection; and whether there is a fiduciary duty or not attached to the holding of monies derived from the protected works, respectively,” she wrote.
US law requires copyright owners to wait until their applications are either registered or rejected by the US Copyright Office before filing lawsuits for copyright infringement claims, while Jamaican law “does not require registration of protected works as a condition precedent for claiming or proving ownership of copyright.”
Kerwick continued: “It is submitted that Jamaican law has the most interest in this case. It is undisputed that the music originated in Jamaica; the affixation of Vegas performance on the record occurred in Jamaica; the Producers worked in Jamaica and the music was first released in Jamaica.”
“As such, Jamaica has sufficient interest in the litigation so that if we chose to apply Jamaican law on the [copyright] registration issue that said decision would not [run] afoul of the Federal Law.”
Kerwick’s withdrawal also comes after judge Chen, on Thursday (October 27), denied Mr. Vegas’ motion of preliminary injunction, which sought to prevent VP from selling the disputed songs and exploiting his “image and likeness” while the lawsuit was being litigated.