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$700,000 Judgment For Ne-Yo
A Superior Court judge has ordered a concert promoter to pay R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo $700,000 stemming from a lawsuit filed earlier this year.
Ne-Yo was dropped from R. Kelly’s tour last year after two shows. He claimed he was dropped because he had upstaged Kelly, an allegation the singer vehemently denied.
Kelly was not a party to the lawsuit. Ne-Yo (real name: Shaffer Smith) instead sued the tour’s promoter, Georgia-based Rowe Entertainment Inc.
Rowe Entertainment never answered the lawsuit, and last week Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey ordered the company to pay Ne-Yo and his touring company $700,320.
Rowe Entertainment said in a statement posted on its Web site after the lawsuit’s filing that it couldn’t obtain a “final, fully executed contract” from Ne-Yo’s agent.
Ne-Yo’s CDs In My Own Words and Because of You both had sales of more than 1 million.