Fetty Wap Assistant’s $1.1 Million Defamation Award Toppled

Rapper Fetty Wap’s record label, RGF Productions Inc., got a $1.1 million defamation award in favor of a former assistant for the musician overturned after a New Jersey appeals court found the plaintiff’s attorney improperly asked the jurors to put themselves in her shoes in determining damages.

It’s improper for an attorney to invoke “the golden rule"—do unto others as you would wish them to do unto you—because it encourages jurors “to depart from neutrality,” the court said.

Counsel for the plaintiff, Shawna Morgan, also asked the jury to award punitive damages, although the jury wasn’t authorized to do so because she didn’t seek them in her complaint, the court said.

And the trial court made no attempt to cure the error by instructing the jurors on the type of damages they could award, neither by instructing them to disregard comments made by plaintiff’s counsel regarding punitive damages, nor by instructing them that they were prohibited from awarding punitive damages, the court said.

As a result, the court said, “we have no confidence that repeated requests for punitive damages from plaintiff’s counsel had no effect on the jury’s decision to award damages.”

Morgan worked for RGF as an assistant for Fetty Wap—a position that included answering emails and phones, as well as booking tours and shows for the artist.

Morgan was paid on commission for shows she booked. In late 2016 and continuing into 2017, Morgan alleged, her reimbursements and commission payments ceased.

She was fired from RGF in April 2017, and from April to August 2017, she attempted to collect her unreimbursed expenses and unpaid commissions from RGF and Fetty Wap, she alleged.

In August 2017, RGF released a press release accusing Morgan of falsely representing herself as a booking agent and charging outside fees for her services. “As a result, she received two fees, one directly from RGF, as well as a fee directly from the clients, an activity known as double-dipping,” the statement said.

Morgan sued RGF, Fetty Wap, and Fetty Wap Touring Inc., seeking compensation for work performed and reimbursement for expenses. The complaint also requested unspecified damages for defamation.

The jury awarded Morgan $1,167,000, which included $980,000 for RGF’s alleged defamation, breach of contract damages totaling $66,000, and $121,000 in pre-judgment interest.

Fetty Wap and FWTI settled with Morgan prior to trial and weren’t involved in the appeal.

Fetty Wap’s single Trap Queen became a number one hit and was nominated for two Grammy awards in 2016. He won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 2015, and the Billboard Music Award for Best New Artist in 2016.

Judges Mitchel E. Ostrer, Francis J. Vernoia, and Catherine I. Enright issued the opinion.

Hillel I. Parness in New York represented Morgan.

Cariddi & Garcia represented RGF.

The case is Morgan v. Maxwell, 2021 BL 151869, N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div., No. A-3157-19, unpublished 4/26/21.