Lizzo probably feels good as hell, after a federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit against her by two numbers saying she helped make “Truth Hurts.”
Lizzo first struck out in October 2019, asking the court for a statement that brothers Justin and Jeremiah Raisen did not co-write their Grammy-winning hit song and therefore are not entitled to any of his winnings. The songwriters count in February, claiming that “Truth Hurts” is a derivative work, based on a song called “Healthy” that she made in early 2017 with the artist.
She maintains the only important thing that came out of that session was the line “I just did a DNA test showing that I’m one hundred percent that bitch” which was inspired by a firale tweet that another songwriter present (Jesse Saint John Geller, who is not part of the lawsuit) brought to the group. After news of the quarrel broke, Lizzo ripped the brothers off to claim that they helped her write the song, but gave the woman who gave that tweet songwriting credit.
U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee on Friday (August 14) upheld Lizzo’s motion to abolish the brothers’ opposition, with the artist agreeing that a “co-author of one copyrighted work does not automatically become the owner of a derivative work. “
“Without deciding who actually wrote the songs in question, and without reviewing the recordings or lyrics of the songs, the Court may rule that Counterclaimants allege that the parties collaborated and finalized one song before Lizzo allegedly shared that song was copied to make Truth Hurts, ” Gee writes. is from Healthy. “
But Gee leaves the Raisens to change, finding that a section of her opposition to Lizzo’s suit indicates “they are now aiming to claim that their collaboration with Lizzo in creating Healthy was part of the creative process that led to a finally finished work, The truth has a shrill sound. “
However, she does not seem convinced that an amendment will make much difference. (Read her full order here.)
“[T]he facts that Counterclaimants stated in their plea – that the parties’ one finished product, Healthy, and Lizzo ‘derived’ or ‘copied’ elements of Healthy to create a second finished product, Truth Hurts – are incompatible with the facts because the opposition now includes them – that the parties fully intended that Healthy was simply part of the process of making one single finished product, Truth Hurts, “Gee writes. She notes” the parties are addressing the impact of not this contradiction in her papers “but in the interest of caution she gives herself a shot and warns” inconsistent accusations can be used to undermine the credibility of a legal action. “
She also slammed several of the writers’ assertive defenses to Lizzo’s suit, finding them as boilerplates as irrelevant to the alleged claims.
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
