Megan Thee Stallion’s legal battle with her record label 1501 Certified Entertainment is heading to a jury trial after a Houston judge sided with her, Billboard reports.
1501 asked Houston judge Robert Schaffer to decide the dispute between the two parties, in which Megan claimed 1501 refused to acknowledge 2021's Something for Thee Hotties as an album so it wouldn't fulfill her contract, back in September. Her label has argued that her contract does not meet the definition of an “album,” but Megan’s lawyers have stated that the case should be decided by a jury rather than just the judge. Schaffer sided with Megan’s legal team, and her $1 million lawsuit will proceed to trial. Schaffer wrote that he was “of the opinion that the motion should be and hereby is denied in its entirety.” A trial date has not yet been set.
Meg’s legal team has not commented on the ruling, but 1501’s team said that the ruling has not resolved the dispute. “There is no amount of discovery that will change the answer to that question,” 1501’s lawyers wrote in the motion filed in September. “The court can compare the recording to the contractual requirements for an album and determine that ‘Something for Thee Hotties’ is not an album as a matter of law.”
In a response, Meg’s legal team said that she should be allowed her day in court. "Pete should be allowed her day in court to present evidence and testimony to the jury demonstrating that she has done all that was required of her in the delivery and release of her albums,” her lawyers said.
Upon filing the lawsuit against the label, Meg claimed that they tricked her into signing a “unconscionable” record deal below industry standards in 2018. When she signed with Roc Nation for management the following year, she spoke with “real lawyers” he told her that the contract was “crazy.” In a complaint filed last summer, she additionally claimed that the label “systematically failed” to pay her the appropriate royalties, too.
