Ghostface Killah Loses Sampling Suit

Jack Urbont’s 2011 suit had also named Sony, Epic and Razor Sharp Records for the use of his “Iron Man Theme,” but it appears Ghostface Killah’s (real name Dennis Coles) reluctance to participate in discovery, his failure to respond to a notice that he’d been served, and then his repeated refusals to attend scheduled depositions meant that the case would drag on for another three years.

Eventually, Urbont moved for a default judgment against the rapper and U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled in his favor.

“We find that Coles has willfully refused to participate in discovery as ordered and that an entry of default judgment is the appropriate sanction for this misconduct,” she wrote in the ruling. “Not only did Coles fail to comply with the discovery schedule initially set out in our July 10, 2013 scheduling order, but he did so in a manner that was ‘willful and deliberate, as evidenced by his refusal to attend the [June 24, 2014] deposition hearing despite having chosen the date himself, and his last minute notices informing the [plaintiff] of his refusal to attend depositions.’”

The exact statutory damages have not been determined, but shouldn’t total more than $150,000.