Fusari, Inc. v. Mermaid LLC Index No.

2010-650179 (2010)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Fusari (Rob) owns Fusari Inc. (P). Rob is a talented songwriter and producer. Mermaid (D) is owned by Stephani Germanotta aka Lady Gaga and her father Joe. On March 23, 2006, Stephani approached Wendy Starland. Starland had been working with Rob for over 2 years. Starland was impressed with Stephani's performance and put Rob and Stephani on the phone together that night. Stephani took the trip by bus and then hiked a quarter mile to Rob's Studio. She impressed Rob with her talent and then began working on a regular basis with Rob. Rob radically reshaped Stephani. The two finished Beautiful, Dirty, Rich which appeared on her debut album. They went on to co-write Papparazzi, Brown Eyes, and Disco Heaven. Rob also named Stephani 'Lady Gaga.' Stephani and Rob became romantically involved. In May 2006, they formalized a business relationship and formed TLC to exploit Lady Gaga. TLC would furnish exclusive recording services. P owned 20% of TLC and D owned 80%. Their efforts paid off and Island Def Jam (IDJ) signed her to a record deal. P and D decided to renegotiate their production deal to address merchandising rights. IDJ also refused to guarantee P's rights as a producer on any albums. The TLC Amendment showed ownership rights at 80% for D and 20% for P. D was entitled to Lady Gaga's exclusive recording services and D would furnish to TLC the exclusive recording services of Lady Gaga for the purpose of TLC furnishing those same services to a Distributor. IDJ dropped her after three months. Rob was a cheerleader and encouraged her to keep at it. Their personal relationship suffered. On January 2007, Rob ended their romantic involvement. Laurent Besencon paired Lady Gaga with other songwriter-producers and Poker Face, Just Dance, and Boys, Boys, Boys were created. Rob was quickly passed over and relegated to the fringe of the activity. Rob was frozen out of negotiations with TLC and Interscope. Eventually, Lady Gaga and her father simply stopped taking Rob’s phone calls. On May 20, 2007, Joe signed a new distribution agreement with Interscope Records. Lady Gaga’s debut album, The Fame, was co-produced by Rob. He co-wrote four of the songs and an additional two more on the European version of the album. P then sought payment. On June 18, 2009, TLC issued a check for $203,000 to P. On December 29, 2009, TLC issued a second check for $394,965.00 to P. On the back, D wrote: “Endorsed in Accord and Satisfaction of All Sums Due to the Undersigned.” P refused to endorse the check and returned it to TLC. Ds made no more payments to P. P sued Ds for breach of contract seeking not less than $5 million.