UMG moves to dismiss Limp Bizkit’s $200 million royalty dispute lawsuit

Fred Durst, the lead singer of Limp Bizkit, recently filed a hefty $200 million lawsuit against Universal Music Group, to which the company has reacted. The case, which was filed in October of last year, claimed that UMG had attempted to deprive his band and a number of other related artists of royalties by using “fraudulent” accounting techniques. According to Rolling Stone, UMG is arguing that Durst’s case should be rejected since the accusations were “based on a fallacy.” The following is how Rolling Stone summed up UMG’s case for termination.

UMG said that the dispute started with a director at the company reaching out to Limp Bizkit‘s manager over email seeking to set up a vendor profile so the band could get their recording royalties. The business manager had told the UMG director that most of the band members had sold off their royalty shares, but over a year later, he emailed again, clarifying he was referring to publishing royalties, not the recordings. UMG said the email communications, which they included in their reply, ‘eviscerate’ the fraud claims.

Additionally, UMG asserts that all “outstanding royalties and profits” owing were met by the $1.03 million paid to the band and the $2.3 million given to Flawless Records. Since then, Limp Bizkit‘s reps have responded to UMG’s request to dismiss and the allegations it contained in a statement.

When someone is caught red handed, their first response is often to hire very expensive outside law firms who first, as a matter of course, try anything to dismiss the suit when they are in trouble with the facts. In this case, we believe UMG is using a typical, formulaic, well-trodden strategy of reaching for any escape route by desperately grasping at technicalities. We will rely on facts, the law, and the courts. We have no desire to prove a solid case in press releases.