Flo Rida was served with papers via Facebook after being sued for not showing up to perform at the 2011 Fat As Butter music festival in Australia. Flo Rida, born Tramar Dillard, was allegedly a no-show for a headliner spot although he was paid his performance fee of $377,000 up front.
Mothership Music, the concert promoters, sued him and his management company, VIP Entertainment and Concepts, in the NSW District Court for breach of contract and damages associated with the festival’s reputation, and future loss of ticket sales. Billboard reported that because of challenges with serving Flo Rida and management with papers, the legal team took to Facebook to file a court summons.
Initially they were allowed to do so after Justice Judith Gibson ruled in favor of the unusual serving of legal papers in September 2012 after promoters reported difficulties delivering them in person.
His attorney’s quickly appealed the decision, saying the summons “was not validly served on the appellant” and that the judge did not have the jurisdiction to serve the summons by Facebook.
Now, Justice Robert McFarlan upheld Flo’s appeal stating, “The evidence did not establish, other than by mere assertion, that the Facebook page was in fact that of Flo Rida and did not prove that a posting on it was likely to come to his attention in a timely fashion.”
This is not the only time rapper Flo Rida avoided legal issues. He avoided jail time in DUI case in Miami Beach, Fla., in June of 2011 by entering a deal for first-time offenders. He needs to share his lawyers info with a few other rappers in the industry, I’m sure they wish they could catch a x2 break like Flo Rida just did. –joi pearson @JoiAPearson
