Jay-Z is "entitled to recover" nearly $120,000 in attorneys fees and related costs in connection with a previously dismissed paternity case, a California judge ordered this week.
The case in question centers on paternity allegations against the 25-time Grammy winner involving Rymir Satterthwaite, who alleged to have been fathered by Jay "in the mid-1990s" with Wanda Satterthwaite, now deceased.
The complaint itself stemmed from Lillie Coley, described as the "godmother and legal guardian" of Rymir. In November, a California judge signed off on an order granting Jay’s motion to dismiss the complaint.
Jay-Z, to be clear, has denied the paternity claims. In a previous statement regarding a separate legal matter related to the claims, his team slammed them as part of a "decades-long harassment" campaign.
Now, per court docs viewed by Complex, a judgement has been entered in Jay’s favor. In a filing dated Tuesday (January 13), Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett ordered that Jay is "entitled to recover" attorney’s fees and related costs in the amount of $119,235.45.
Also filed on Tuesday was a 15-page document detailing both the decision to award attorney’s fees to Jay and the denial of Coley’s previously reported motion for reconsideration. Key to the former decision is California’s anti-SLAPP statute, which aims to protect free speech and petition rights.
In this particular case, per the filing, central to Jay’s entitlement to nearly $120,000 is the statute’s argument that "a prevailing defendant on a special motion to strike shall be entitled to recover that defendant’s attorney’s fees and costs." While Coley had made arguments against this, the court ultimately disagreed.