A songwriter suing Missy Elliot can’t use her superstar standing as courtroom ammo after a choose dominated her wealth it’s off limits.
Missy Elliott is within the thick of a authorized mess in Philly, the place her previous songwriting buddy Terry Williams is attempting to money in on songs from their 90s lady group days with SISTA—and a choose simply advised him to depart her checking account out of it.
Williams claims he helped write a bunch of tracks for SISTA’s album 4 All The Sistas Round da World and says he’s owed credit score and a reduce of the cash.
Missy’s not having it and says she wrote these joints solo. The authorized back-and-forth has been dragging on for years and now it’s landed in federal courtroom.
However right here’s the place it will get spicy—final week, Decide Nitza Quiñones Alejandro advised Williams he can’t use Missy Elliott’s fame or cash to attempt to beef up his case.
The courtroom stated speaking about her superstar standing or different music work that’s unrelated to the songs in query may mess with the jury’s judgment and is usually off-limits.
The choose spelled it out.
“References to Elliott’s wealth, fame, and different works have little to no relevance to this case, and that the probative worth of this proof is outweighed by a hazard of unfair prejudice,” Decide Alejandro stated.
Williams tried to argue that since Missy talked about her profession publicly, her success ought to issue into the trial. The choose wasn’t shopping for it and stated that also doesn’t make it honest recreation.
“Williams can not use Elliott’s wealth to unfairly inflate his compensatory damages claims. References to Elliott’s wealth, fame, and different works are typically inadmissible,” Decide Alejandro dominated.
That stated, the choose left a little bit wiggle room.
If Missy’s background connects on to the songs they’re combating about, it would come up—however provided that it truly issues to the case.
Whether or not that makes it into trial continues to be TBD.
This drama additionally features a stash of 34 unreleased tracks that Williams says he labored on. Missy says she wrote all of them herself.
Again in August 2024, Missy scored a win when the choose threw out Williams’ lawsuit over Aaliyah’s music “Heartbroken,” saying he waited means too lengthy—22 years—to assert he helped write it.
That a part of the case is useless, however the SISTA combat continues to be going.