Jay-Z has earned the right to make demands. Hova is demanding that the list of arbitrators he can choose from in the Roc Nation logo lawsuit he’s mired include some African-American people.
Reports TMZ:
According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Jay-Z’s lawyers are requesting a restraining order that would put an immediate halt to the lawsuit Iconix Brand filed against him. In the docs, Jay-Z’s attorney, Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, says they’ve been given a deadline of Nov. 30 to choose an arbitrator in the case, but the list of candidates they’ve been given is, quite frankly, too lily white.
TMZ broke the story … Iconix Brand says it paid $204 million for merchandising rights for the Roc Nation logo. Iconix sued Jay because the logo got slapped on a bunch of MLB gear without its permission. Both sides have agreed to handle the dispute in arbitration, rather than open court.
However, Jay’s legal team is clearly concerned the lack of diversity could hurt their chance of getting a fair shake in the case.
They came back with an updated list, but even that was the jig. No pun intended.
In the docs, they say they initially got a list of 200 potential arbitrators, NONE of whom were African-American. After they complained, they got a new list of 6 arbitrators “of color,” but one of them is a partner at the law firm repping Iconix … a clear conflict of interest.
Jigga and his lawyers are asking for more time to vet the list.
Sounds fair enough.
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