A bankruptcy court was right to throw out a $32 million lawsuit by rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson against his former law firm, a federal judge in New Haven, Connecticut, ruled on Friday.
US District Judge Vanessa Bryant dismissed Jackson's claims of legal malpractice against US law firm Reed Smith and its former partner Peter Raymond.
Jackson had argued that Reed Smith pursued an "uninformed" legal strategy in the run-up to a trial that led to a $7 million judgment against him, and that it had a conflict of interest because another lawyer for Jackson had also represented rapper Rick Ross, a potential witness in the trial. Ross never testified.
Jackson did not say how his lawyers' loyalties were divided or how the conflict led to his loss at trial, the judge said.
"Without more, the court cannot conclude the conflict of interest impacted counsel's discovery strategy, or that the conflict caused Jackson to lose at trial," Bryant said.
The firm represented Jackson after he was sued by a woman whose sex tape he had posted online as part of a feud with Ross. Jackson dropped Reed Smith as his counsel in March 2015. Four months later, he lost at trial and was ordered to pay $7 million in damages.
Lawyers for Jackson and a spokesperson for Reed Smith, a 1,700-lawyer firm founded in Pittsburgh, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Raymond, now a partner at Wachtel Missry, also did not immediately respond.
Jackson filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut three days after the 2015 verdict. During the bankruptcy proceedings, Reed Smith filed a claim seeking more than $609,000 in allegedly unpaid attorney fees.
Jackson countered with his legal malpractice claims, seeking $7 million in actual damages and $25 million in punitive damages. US Bankruptcy Judge Ann Nevins dismissed Jackson's claims in a pair of decisions in March 2019 and June 2021.
Nevins reduced Reed Smith's fee claim to $429,000 in May.
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