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And Finally Artist News Legal
Who is to blame for the loss of Young Thug’s million dollar bag?
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 25 November 2021
Who was to blame for a bag of Young Thug’s stuff going missing? The rapper says the management firm that oversees his apartment complex. The management firm says that it’s his fault for leaving a bag containing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stuff lying around in a car park. And on those grounds, JLB Peachtree Management is trying to get a lawsuit on the matter dismissed.
Young Thug sued Peachtree last month, almost a year after a member of staff employed by the property management firm handed the rapper’s bag to a stranger, who promptly walked off with it. The bag was in the possession of Peachtree’s staff because Young Thug had accidentally left it in the car park of the apartment complex where he was living.
The Louis Vuitton bag – itself worth $2500 – contained $40,000 in cash, a watch worth $57,000, a chain worth $37,000, and a hard drive containing around 200 unreleased songs, which the rapper says in his lawsuit has a value of at least $1 million.
After another resident reported that a bag had been left in the car park in November last year, a member of the building’s concierge staff retrieved it and placed it in a secure area. It was presumed to belong to Young Thug, as it had been next to his car, so they informed him that it had been found.
A note was then placed on the bag saying that it should not be removed without first contacting the concierge manager, so that they could verify that it was being returned to its rightful owner. However, later that evening – without following the instructions on that note – a member of staff handed it to an unknown person, who – along with the bag – has never been seen again.
This chain of events does not seem to be in dispute. What is disputed, however, is whose responsibility it was to ensure the safety of the bag. While Young Thug’s lawsuit places that responsibility firmly on Peachtree and its staff, the company says in its formal response that while its staff did take possession of the bag, at no point did they assume any sort of duty to protect it from being stolen.
Peachtree’s legal filing adds that Young Thug’s own “negligence and failure to exercise ordinary care” is to blame for him being separated from his bag. As a result, it is calling for his lawsuit to be dismissed.
However, Young Thug’s lawyer is not having this. In a statement to Rolling Stone, Charles Hoffecker says: “The suggestion my client’s negligence – if any – outweighs the defendants’ ignores the simple facts the defendants’ employees acted to secure the property, knew whose property it was, committed to keep the property safe in a secure location, communicated to my client they would keep the property secure, and then released the property to an unknown person”.
“Now that the defendants have filed their answer”, he adds, “we look forward to pursuing Young Thug’s rights through the litigation process”.
Exactly how far down that route this case will get remains to be seen. A settlement seems likely. But either way, I think we can all agree this dispute provides an important lesson for all of us: next time you’re carrying around a bag containing a million dollars worth of stuff, don’t leave it lying around in a car park. Glad we got that cleared up.
