Key Takeaways
- Summer Walker sued LVRN for fraud and breach of contract, seeking damages and a ruling that voids her 2017 agreement with the label and management company.
- She alleges LVRN diverted recording and touring budgets to cover excessive company expenses and withheld revenue from YouTube and Amazon pages using her name and likeness.
- The case comes as Interscope separately seeks $50 million over albums it says she still owes after invoking California’s seven-year rule to leave her deal.
Summer Walker wants a court to release her from her deal with Love Renaissance Records, alleging the company mishandled her money and withheld earnings tied to her name and likeness.
The singer’s lawsuit, filed in August and obtained by Complex, seeks damages and a ruling declaring her Sept. 15, 2017 agreement with LVRN “void and unenforceable.”
The 10-page complaint challenges both the terms of Walker’s contract and the company’s handling of her finances. She alleges LVRN diverted funds allocated for her career (including recording and touring budgets) and used those budgets to cover excessive company expenses.
Walker also claims she was denied revenue from YouTube and Amazon pages featuring her name and likeness. Her allegations against the independent label and management company include fraud and breaches of contract.
Her attorney, Keith Moten, described the dispute as a breakdown in trust in a statement to Rolling Stone.
“Summer has given LVRN iconic music, and some of the best years of her life,” Moten said. “In return, LVRN has breached Summer’s trust in them and has failed Summer in numerous ways.”
The LVRN case is one of two legal disputes surrounding Walker’s recording agreements. Interscope has separately sued her over music it alleges she still owes under her contract.
That lawsuit, which seeks $50 million, follows Walker’s notice that she intended to leave her Interscope deal under California’s “seven-year rule.” Interscope argues that her departure would leave a five-album commitment unfulfilled and is seeking damages over the outstanding releases.
