The US Supreme Court has refused to hear a petition by independent label TVT Records regarding last year's appeal court ruling on the long running TVT v Island Def Jam case.
As previously reported, TVT records sued the Universal division over allegations surrounding the two labels' dealings with Ja Rule and his Cash Money Click outfit. The latter was signed to TVT, but the independent allowed Ja himself to sign to IDJ while the group was on hiatus, but on the condition they could continue to release Cash Money Click albums.
But TVT alleged that when they tried to launch a new Cash Money Click long player the major label and its then chief Lyor Cohen were guilty of a string of "unsavoury business practices" that aimed to prevent the release - actions that, they claimed, amounted to breach of contract and fraud.
The US courts originally found in favour of TVT, awarding them $132 million in damages, $56 million from Cohen personally. But a later court ruling cut the damages to $53 million, while a further hearing last year ruled that the independent's fraud allegations were without merit, cutting the damages payment down to just $126,720 relating to breach of contract charges that neither Cohen nor IDJ appealed.
TVT had hoped to take their case to the Supreme Court to have those later decisions reversed, but they have been told their case to appeal is not strong enough to warrant a hearing. It is a ruling that possibly brings to an end a long running legal battle, one that will leave the independent considerably out of pocket despite their compensation win because of the high costs of pursuing the lawsuit.