Ashanti Settles Contract Suit

Ashanti and her former producer, Genard Parker, ended their bitter contract dispute by dropping all litigation September 19th, a day after trial had begun in New York City.

Financial terms of the agreement weren’t revealed but the performer said, “I’m very pleased the plaintiff has voluntarily dismissed the case against us.”

Parker worked with Ashanti in 1996 and 1997. A federal jury awarded him $630,000 last July after concluding the Grammy winner broke her contract with him. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff rejected all but $50,000 of the award, saying the jurors didn’t have all the facts to determine the amount of damages.

The judge’s ruling led to the new trial where Parker had been seeking $2.3 million.

Ashanti’s attorney, Alan Kaminsky, told the jury she started working with Parker to record some songs to kick-start her career. When she signed with a record company, Parker released her from her contract with the stipulation he would receive some payment from sales of her first three albums.

Kaminsky said the record company eventually dropped Ashanti with no albums recorded, so Parker wasn’t owed anything.