Chance the Rapper wins final court order against former manager
A Chicago judge has ordered Chance the Rapper's former manager to give up compensation worth more than $1.5 million, closing the last open claim in a five-year legal fight.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge James E. Hanlon Jr. issued the order in a 28-page ruling based on evidence from a jury trial in March and a follow-up hearing in May, Rolling Stone reported on 14 October.
The ruling decided a breach of fiduciary duty claim. That is the legal duty of a manager to act in a client's best interests. It had been left for the judge to decide after the jury dealt with the contract claims.
The March trial had already gone in the rapper's favour. A Cook County jury found that former manager Pat Corcoran, known as Pat the Manager, failed to prove he was owed $3.8 million in unpaid commissions, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The jury also found that Chancelor Bennett, the rapper's legal name, never agreed to pay commissions after the management relationship ended.
Bennett brought counterclaims of his own over contract and interference issues. The jury awarded him $35, Paste reported.
Judge Hanlon's new order focuses on money Corcoran received while managing the rapper's music, touring and merchandise businesses. Corcoran earned more than $10 million in that period.
The judge ordered him to surrender certain commissions paid by vendors and to forfeit his 15 percent management cut tied to merchandising deals. The total could exceed $1.5 million.
The judge did set limits. He rejected Bennett's requests for punitive damages, extra payments meant to punish misconduct, and for forfeiture of all compensation Corcoran earned during the breach period.
The order also settles a long-running dispute over a website address. Corcoran must transfer ownership of chancraps.com to Bennett's merchandise and branding business. Corcoran registered the domain in his own name in 2013 and kept control of it through five years of litigation.
What makes this stand out is how cleanly the court split the outcome. The jury rejected the $3.8 million commissions claim. The judge then found a breach of duty, but declined to wipe out the full $10 million-plus payday. For readers following the business side, it leaves a short ledger: $35 won at trial, more than $1.5 million ordered forfeited, and one domain name changing hands.
