Bone Thugs-N-Hearings

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony has been ordered to pay a promoter $205,000 for dates in Japan that went up in smoke in late 2006.

After more than a year of stalled negotiations and lapses in communication, Los Angeles District Court Judge Dean Pregerson granted a default judgment in favor of Japanese promoter World Mix Entertainment February 28th.

Pregerson found that group members Anthony Charles Henderson (aka Krayzie Bone), Steven Verdell Howse (aka Layzie Bone) and Charles Curtis Scruggs Jr. (aka Wish Bone) had failed to contest the promoter’s original complaint.

World Mix originally sued the group and its booking agent at the time of negotiations, on April 2, 2007, although the former agent was later removed from the action. The suit claimed Bone Thugs had failed to live up to its end of the agreement the previous December, when the group was booked for the pair of gigs in Nagoya and Okinawa.

According to court documents, Bone Thugs was set to perform for World Mix at a fee of $25,000 per show plus $10,000 for additional photo shoots. The promoter agreed to provide airfare and accommodations for the group and its entourage.

And on top of the standard security, sound and technical requirements outlined in the group’s rider, World Mix even agreed to Bone Thugs’ unconventional catering requirements.

The dressing room would not only feature a standard spread, but also two bottles of Hennessey, one bottle of Moët, a box of Philly Blunts and one "big sack of marijuana."

The deposit was sent, the suit said, and communications with Bone Thugs continued up to the day of departure at the airport. However, when the time came for takeoff, none of the group was on the plane.

But the story got even stranger after World Mix took action. It claims it was contacted by one agent to re-book the tour, then an attorney who claimed to be the group’s legal representative. Then it claims it was informed of a new agency that would handle the complaint. Once again, those negotiations fizzled, and communication ceased in December 2007, the declaration said.

World Mix claimed that by failing to adequately answer the suit, Bone Thugs was responsible for the concert cancellations and ticket refunds that resulted in damages totaling $182,965. In his ruling, Judge Pregerson added prejudgment interest and costs to the damages.