A federal judge has ruled that Megan Thee Stallion and Roc Nation must face a jury trial in a lawsuit brought by the rapper's former cameraman, Emilio Garcia, after refusing to throw out several of his claims.

Judge Gregory H. Woods of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued the ruling on Friday, 7 August 2026, partially denying the defendants' motion for summary judgment — a legal request to decide a case without a trial. The judge found that the record shows the defendants exercised significant control over Garcia, keeping the dispute alive for a jury to settle Billboard Bloomberg Law.

Garcia filed his lawsuit in May 2024. He alleges that Megan Thee Stallion and Roc Nation subjected him to a hostile work environment stemming from an incident during a 2022 tour stop in Spain, where he says he was forced to watch the rapper have sex in a car. Garcia has said the incident left him "embarrassed, mortified and offended," and that his work was subsequently reduced before he was ultimately terminated Billboard.

The trial will now cover Garcia's claims of failure to pay proper wages, discrimination under New York law, and retaliation for complaining about his pay. However, Judge Woods dismissed one set of claims: that Megan Thee Stallion or Roc Nation retaliated against Garcia specifically for complaining about the alleged car-sex incident Billboard.

Megan Thee Stallion's legal team, led by attorney Alex Spiro, has denied the accusations, calling them "false and fabricated." Garcia is represented by attorney Ron Zambrano Billboard.

The case is docketed as Emilio Garcia v. Roc Nation LLC, case number 1:24-cv-07587, in the Southern District of New York. Megan Thee Stallion Entertainment is named as a defendant alongside Roc Nation CourtListener. A related case, also filed by Garcia, is docketed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, where Hot Girl Touring, LLC — an entity tied to the rapper's touring business — is named among the defendants Justia Dockets.

No trial date has been publicly set. The ruling means both sides will now prepare to present their cases before a jury, more than two years after the alleged incident and over two years since Garcia says his employment ended.

For Megan Thee Stallion, the case adds another legal proceeding to a career that has already seen its share of courtrooms. For Garcia, the judge's refusal to dismiss the core claims means a jury will weigh his account of what happened on tour and in the workplace that followed.