Nicki Minaj’s Former Lawyers Are Asking A Judge For $295,605 In Unpaid Legal Fees
Nicki Minaj’s former law firm is back in court — and this time they’re asking a judge to make her pay up without a fight. Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, the firm that defended Nicki in her “I Lied” copyright case, filed a renewed request on Tuesday (November 3) asking Los Angeles County Superior Court for a $295,605.41 default judgment over legal bills the firm says she never paid. A hearing is set for November 16.
The math, per the firm’s filing: $229,541.75 in billed legal work to Nicki and her company, Harajuku Barbie Music LLC. Add $25,249.51 in contractual late fees, $37,825 the firm wants for the cost of chasing the debt, and $2,989.15 in court costs — and the total lands at $295,605.41.
The firm signed on with Nicki in October 2024 to defend her against songwriter Julius Johnson, who claimed her 2014 song “I Lied” copied the beat and instrumentation of his track “onmysleeve.” That case ended in a confidential settlement and was dismissed. The firm says its own invoice never got settled.
The firm sued over the money in March, and in its latest filing it says the case “has not been responded to in any way” by Nicki. Defaults were entered against her and her company after the response window passed. To be clear: the $295,605 is a request, not an award — no judge has ordered her to pay it, and the November 16 hearing is where the court decides. Nicki’s reps did not respond to requests for comment on the renewed filing.
The timing is hard to miss. The renewed filing landed the same week Nicki’s defense of Donald Trump has been dominating the timeline — the posts we covered here — and, per multiple reports, within minutes of her appearance alongside a Trump-endorsed candidate in New Hampshire.
It’s also not her first default-judgment fire this year. Back in January, Nicki paid a $500,000 default judgment to a former security guard, narrowly avoiding a court-ordered sale of her $20 million Los Angeles mansion.
Reporting: TheWrap and Rolling Stone (court filings). Additional reporting via DancehallMag, Newsmax and Baller Alert.
