Nelly has achieved a legal win as three ex-St. Lunatics members have dropped a $50 million lawsuit against him.
The individual from St. Louis was accused of supposedly keeping royalties from the group’s contributions to his successful album Country Grammar.
Nevertheless, three St. Lunatics members- Murphy Lee, Kyjuan, and City Spud- have stated they did not agree to the lawsuit and have officially removed their names from the filing, as reported by Billboard.
The legal case is now between only Nelly and Ali, who states through his attorney that he will keep going after the unpaid royalties he deserves.
In the initial accusation, St. Lunatics claimed that Nelly had deceived the group into thinking they had received payment for their contributions to his successful debut album, although this was untrue.
The lawsuit stated that whenever the plaintiffs approached defendant Haynes [Nelly], he would promise them as “friends” that he would not stop them from getting the financial success they deserved.
Regrettably, the plaintiffs did not initially take legal action because they trusted their friend and former band member would not take credit for writing the original compositions.
Soon after, St. Lunatics, excluding Ali, joined Nelly on stage at the 2024 American Music Awards, and later insisted on being taken out of the lawsuit.
Ali promised he would never collaborate with Nelly in the future due to the money that he supposedly owed the group.
“In an interview with VladTV, he estimated that he could be owed around $90,000 or $70,000,” he said. I will receive a payment once that conversation takes place. The total cost will amount to $13,000. Now you will be in trouble because what is this $13,000 for? You need to pay me $91,000.
He added: “What did you pay me for? At the end of it, it’s gonna be $66,000 because he’s far behind on the payments.”
The suit appears to have been ignited by Nelly selling his catalog to HarbourView Equity Partners for $50 million last year.
In an amendment to the lawsuit, Ali is also suing HarbourView for payment and said: “At this juncture, it became apparent that, notwithstanding defendant Haynes’ repeated assurances … defendant would not fulfill his longstanding promises to compensate plaintiff.”
Nelly has yet to comment on the original lawsuit or these new developments.
