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50 Cent just took a major loss in his legal battle with Shaniqua Tompkins, and the appeals court made it crystal clear they weren’t buying his team’s strategy.
The rapper’s lawyers wanted an automatic win after Tompkins took months to respond to the lawsuit, but a New York appellate panel shut that down hard on Thursday, July 9, sending the case back to the lower court, where she’ll get her full day to defend herself, according to Billboard.
Here’s what went down. G-Unit Books sued Tompkins last year, alleging she violated a 2007 agreement under which she sold her life rights to the company for $80,000.
The deal was supposed to lock down her story permanently, but Tompkins went viral posting about her abusive relationship with Fif and other topics, which 50’s team said breached the contract.
His lawyers argued she’d forfeited her right to fight back because she didn’t respond quickly enough to the initial lawsuit.
The court wasn’t having it. In their ruling, the judges pointed out that there’s no evidence Tompkins ever actually received the lawsuit papers in the first place.
“Defendant’s excuse for the delay in responding, that she did not receive the summons and complaint, was reasonable given that plaintiff failed to provide evidence that defendant lived at any of the addresses where service was attempted,” the court wrote.
Tompkins fired back in January, saying she was coerced into signing that 2007 deal under duress and threats.
“Fearing for my life and for my children’s lives, I signed the agreement under extreme duress,” she wrote in court documents.
She’s claiming the contract was invalid from day one, which means if she gets to trial, she’s got a real shot at walking away clean from this whole thing.
G-Unit Books is seeking at least $1 million in damages, but that amount might not hold up if Tompkins proves the original contract was signed under coercion.
