Ja Rule
TVT Records won a jury verdict Friday against Island Def Jam Music Group and its chairman Lyor Cohen for fraud and willful copyright infringement for preventing release of an album featuring performances by rap star Ja Rule and his group CMC and produced by Irv Gotti.
At trial, Cohen denied that he instructed Gotti not to finish the project for TVT, despite evidence presented at trial that he had previously told Gotti that he did not have permission. The jury found Def Jam and Cohen had tortiously interfered with TVT's contract.
TVT's attorney, Peter Haviland, said, "The verdict shows there are some very serious problems confronting Def Jam and Universal Music Group."
A spokesman for Def Jam said, "We disagree with the verdict. Since the jury was not allowed to consider all of the evidence presented in this case, we are confident that when they do, we will prevail." An appeal is expected.
Ja Rule first signed with TVT in 1994 as part of the group CMC. Their debut album was put on hold after group member Christopher Black was incarcerated. After Black's release from prison in 2001, Ja Rule wanted to finish the album with Gotti as the producer. By that time, Ja Rule and Gotti had signed with Def Jam, a division of Universal Music Group.
According to the complaint, Cohen agreed to lend Ja Rule and Gotti to TVT for the CMC album in 2001 but a year later claimed they never had a deal. TVT also alleged that as part of the deal it was induced to allow Def Jam to use its copyrighted material on a Def Jam DVD and CD release.
TVT sued in federal court in Manhattan in August, claiming it already had spent more than $1 million on the album and had planned a November 2002 release.
Friday's unanimous verdict by an eight-person jury was only on the liability phase. A trial on the damages phase is scheduled for next month.
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