Law360, New York (November 04, 2011, 8:37 PM ET) -- An Illinois
magistrate judge on Friday refused to split up a lawsuit claiming Lady
Gaga's hit song "Judas" copied another singer's work, ruling the
liability and damages issues would not be litigated separately.
Following a hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert denied the
request made by the pop star's record label, UMG Recordings Inc., which
argued that the suit should be split so that the liability issues can
be quickly resolved, making a complex damages assessment necessary only
if plaintiff Rebecca Francescatti prevails.
However, Judge Gilbert ordered the parties to submit a proposed
discovery plan in which liability discovery would generally proceed
before full-blown damages discovery. The parties can still serve and
respond to damages discovery at the start of the process; however, any
objections over damages discovery will be addressed by the court,
according to the judge's order.
Christopher Niro of
Niro Haller & Niro Ltd.,
an attorney for Francescatti, said an assessment of damages is a normal
part of the discovery process of nearly every lawsuit.
"Why should this case be any different?" Niro said to Law360 on Friday.
Counsel for UMG wasn't immediately able to comment.
Francescatti recorded a song called "Juda" in 1999, and claims that her
former sound engineer Brian Gaynor later worked with Lady Gaga, whose
real name is Stefani Germanotta, and used Francescatti's song as the
basis for "Judas."
Francescatti filed suit in August, naming as defendants UMG, Lady Gaga,
Gaynor and Gaynor's company, DJ White Shadow LLC. She claims Gaynor
copied the arrangement, melody and bass line of her song and used it to
create "Judas" for Lady Gaga.
According to Francescatti's attorney, Gaynor dressed up "Judas" to make
it sound different from "Juda," but when transcribed to sheet music, the
two songs are 80 to 90 percent identical.
"Juda" appears on Francescatti's 1999 album "It's All About You," and
the song is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, according to the
suit. "Judas" appears on Lady Gaga's 2011 album "Born This Way."
According to UMG, which denies Francescatti's claims, Lady Gaga has
never worked with Gaynor but has met with two other members of DJ White
Shadow, Paul Blair and Brian Lee. However, she met Blair and Lee in
August 2010 and wrote and recorded "Judas" in May 2010, so she could not
have copied Francescatti's song, the company claims.
Moreover, the company claims it has hired a musicologist to analyze the
two songs, and the expert found that they have no significant structural
or musical similarities.
In its bifurcation request, UMG said its role in the case will not
become significant unless Francescatti prevails on liability, because it
only distributes "Judas" and had no role in its composition.
Francescatti is represented by William L. Niro and Christopher W. Niro of Niro Haller & Niro Ltd.
UMG is represented by Andrew H. Bart and Christopher B. Lay of
Jenner & Block LLP. Lady Gaga is represented by Charles Ortner, Sandra A. Crawshaw-Sparks, Steven R. Gilford and Catherine J. Spector of
Proskauer Rose LLP.
DJ White Shadow is represented by Elvis D. Gonzalez of Elvis Gonzalez
Ltd. Gaynor is represented by John J. Bullaro Jr. and Bryan E. Curry of
Bullaro & Carton PC.
The case is Francescatti v. Germanotta et al., case number
1:11-cv-05270, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
Illinois.
--Additional reporting by Ryan Davis and Kaitlin Ugolik. Editing by Kat Laskowski.
