French Montana has reached an agreement to end a lawsuit claiming his 2022 song “Blue Chills” includes an unlicensed sample, resolving allegations that he had tentatively agreed to pay for the clip but never did.
Skylar Gudasz's 2020 song “Femme Fatale” can be heard throughout French's track — and in a lawsuit filed last year, she claimed the rapper's reps initially offered to pay her for the sample. But said French (Karim Kharbouch) then left “Blue Chills” without ever signing that deal.
In court filings Wednesday (July 31), lawyers for both sides asked a federal judge to dismiss the case. Each side will pay its own costs, attorneys' fees and costs, but none of the terms of the settlement were disclosed in court filings.
Neither side immediately returned requests for comment.
Gudasz claimed in her August 2023 lawsuit that she was first contacted about French using “Femme Fatale” in May 2022 by Deborah Manis-Gardner, a well-known industry executive who has called the “queen” of sample clearance. Gudasz said she and her lawyer then negotiated a deal in which she would receive more than $7,000 in advances, a 0.08 percent cut of the master royalties and a 50 percent share of the royalties for French's new composition.
But a month later, he claims French, without warning, released the song “before finalizing and signing a licensing deal.” Gudasz says her attorney quickly notified Mannis-Gardner of the problem.
“Oh jeez,” Mannis-Gardner reportedly wrote in a reply email, saying she would contact French's attorney about the matter. However, Gudasz says the situation was never resolved, claiming that Mannis-Gardner “continued to maintain that there would be a final agreement, sent emails to finalize the licensing agreement, and requested invoices from the plaintiff, which the plaintiff promptly sent … and even sent the plaintiff a congratulatory email.”
“Despite the defendants' repeated promises…. no signed agreements, fees, royalties, licensing agreements or monies have ever been sent to plaintiff,” Gudasz's lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
Gudasz says the failed negotiations prove French “knowingly infringed” on the earlier song because they show he knew permission was needed but chose to proceed without permission. She claims French even posted comments on Instagram congratulating her and acknowledging her role in “Blue Chills” on an episode of Apple Music. Rap Life Radio.
In addition to French Montana, the lawsuit also names producer Harry Fraud (real name Rory William Quigley) as a defendant, as well as Sony Music Entertainment and several other companies involved in French's songwriting. Mannis-Gardner was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit and was not accused of any wrongdoing.
Wednesday's settlement resolves the lawsuit's allegations against all defendants.
