The fight over who should benefit from discovering Ja Rule continues. In the latest twist, last week a U.S. appellate court reversed a federal judge’s ruling that ordered the Island Def Jam Group and former chairman Lyor Cohen to pay independent label TVT Records a record $53 million in damages for backing out of a deal to let TVT release a record by Rule’s early group, the Cash Money Click. The judge reduced the damages to $126,000.
The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan found there was insufficient evidence to support TVT’s claims that Def Jam and Cohen were liable for blocking the release of the Rule album, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. The ruling negated one of the biggest damage awards in music-business history, which was originally pegged at $132 million, but reduced in late 2003 to $53 million.