In what I suspect is an optimistic lawsuit, the teenage son of Czar Entertainment chief Jimmy Rosemond is suing 50 Cent, Universal Music and its Interscope, G-Unit and Shady Records imprints, and Fiddy's management company Violator Management, its CEO Chris Lighty and various Violator/G-Unit associates, including Tony Yayo, over that previously reported street attack by Yayo and his associate Lowell Fletcher against Rosemond Junior. The lawsuit says all those hip hop moguls and companies should be held liable for the injuries suffered by Rosemond Jr during the altercation, because, the suit alleges, they encourage artists - like Yayo - to pursue violent and criminal lifestyles.
As previously reported, Rosemond Jr, also called James, was assaulted after a run in with Yayo and Fletcher and two other men in Manhattan in March last year. It was alleged the four men set upon Rosemond Jr because he was wearing a t-shirt promoting his father's company, which, among many other things, manages The Game, the one time colleague of G-Uniter's like Yayo, who, since quitting the Unit, has had a very public feud with 50 Cent, Yayo et al. I've never been clear on whether it was thought Yayo and his associates knew the teenager was actually the son of the boss of the rival hip hop empire, or whether it was just the t-shirt that got them so angry.
Criminal proceedings followed in relation to the attack, during which, despite various charges being pursued against Yayo, it materialised Fletcher had been the one to physically attack Rosemond Jr. He pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to 9 months in jail. Yayo, who claimed to have tried to pull Fletcher back during the attack, did plead guilty to harassment against the teen, a much lesser crime that came with a sentence of ten days community service.
The new civil proceedings in relation to the case, filed by James Rosemond and his mother Cynthia Reed, are rather ambitious, extending liability to pretty much everyone associated with Yayo's hip hop career, possibly because the person who was held criminally liable for the attack - Fletcher - is neither a high profile nor, presumably, especially rich defendant. The Rosemonds have been keen to hold 50 Cent liable in someway since the start, and when the story first broke last year reports suggested he had been there at the time of the assault - though it was quickly proven he wasn't even in New York at the time.
But, as we said, the civil case that has been filed with the court this week attempts to extend liability beyond those just involved in the actual altercation on these grounds that the defendants encourage the likes of Yayo to be thugs because it's good for business. The lawsuit says: "The members of G-Unit, including defendants Yayo and 50 Cent, encouraged, sanctioned, approved and condoned its members threatening violence, and or engaging in violent acts in furtherance of its business. [The attack on James Rosemond] was intended to promote and maintain Yayo and 50 Cent's 'gangsta' image as promoted, marketed and advertised [by the record labels]".
None of the defendants have, as yet, commented.