50 Cent Wants To Grill Lawyer In $32 Million Battle Over Rick Ross’ Baby Mama
By Ryan Naumann on October 1, 2019 at 8:45 AM EDT
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50 Cent wants to grill a lawyer in connection with his $32 million-battle over Rick Ross’ baby mama.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, 50 is asking a judge to step in and allow him to take the deposition of an attorney to build his case.
50 Cent sued his former lawyers, Reed Smith LLP, accusing them of malpractice. He accused them of screwing up the lawsuit brought by Rick Ross’ baby mama, Lastonia Leviston. He was hit with a $7 million judgment in the case. He then sued his lawyers demanding $32 million in damages. The firm denies all allegations.
In newly filed documents, 50 says he wants to depose the firm’s former Chief Legal Officer, Michael Scott.
The firm has been trying to object to Scott being deposed. They argue Scott, “never performed any work for Jackson in the Leviston Matter and has no personal knowledge about the facts of that case.”
Further, “Mr. Scott’s only connection to the Leviston Matter has been to serve as Reed Smith’s general counsel by giving Reed Smith and Peter Raymond legal advice and by representing them at a settlement meeting with counsel for Jackson prior to the filing of any malpractice claim.”
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50 says, “The facts concerning Mr. Scott’s pertinence to this matter are, however, slightly more nuanced. At the inception of this matter, Mr. Scott participated in conversations with the undersigned, and represented himself as Reed Smith’s Chief Legal Officer. In that role, Mr. Scott is undoubtedly intimately familiar with, and consequently can testify to, Reed Smith’s policies and procedures.”
The rapper wants to grill Scott to build his case against the firm. A judge has yet to rule.
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Back in 2017, 50 Cent sued his former lawyers, Reed Smith LLP, accusing them of legal malpractice. He said they made bad decisions while representing him in the case brought by Rick Ross’ baby mama, Lastonia Leviston.
She sued the rapper over the leak of a sex tape and won a $7-million judgment. 50 Cent accused his former lawyers bad work of causing him to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
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The firm, who worked with 50 Cent for over 14 years, deny allegations of wrongdoing.
They said, “After Raymond and Reed Smith defended this case for over five years, Jackson chose to go to trial with new lawyers, and he lost. He now seeks to blame his former lawyers for that loss, arguing that they should have done more, yet should have charged less.”
In his suit, he accuses them of failing to conduct and preserve discovery during the case, specifically of Rick Ross, a man named Maurice Murray (who was Leviston’s ex) and obtain discovery from an internet provider. He believed this would prove Rick Ross leaked the tape, not him.
50 argued if they presented this evidence it would have swayed the jury.
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50 Cent is still on the hunt for his money from “Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood” star Teairra Marí.
