Rosa Parks Outkast Rap Song Lawsuit Update
| Rosa Parks Outkast Rap Song Lawsuit Update |
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| Written by Robert ID1617 |
| Friday, 01 July 2005 01:02 |
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Rosa Parks attorneys appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court over how much they should receive in legal fees in civil rights icon's settled lawsuit against a the hip-hop rap group Outkast. U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh listened to the attorneys and scheduled another hearing for July 14. No decision was made Thursday. In April, lawyers for Rosa Parks settled a 6-year-old lawsuit over the use of Parks'' name in a hit song by the hip-hop rap group Outkast. Under the terms of the settlement, the 92-year-old Rosa Parks was to receive money to be used for her care and to pay bills. The settlement amount was not disclosed. During Thursday's hearing, U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh took the unusual step of ordering a reporter to leave the courtroom in what was listed as a public hearing in open court. Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, who is Rosa Parks'' legal guardian, asked that Judge Steeh order the courtroom cleared because some terms of the settlement are confidential. Gregory Reed, a Detroit attorney who filed suit on Parks'' behalf, asked Judge Steeh to award his law firm $220,000 and divide another $70,000 among three other firms. Gregory Reed made public a letter Parks had written him in 1999 authorizing the suit and promising him one-third of any settlement. Court records show that $150,000 in fees and costs have been paid from the settlement fund to date, including payments to law firms and to cover some of Rosa Parks'' outstanding bills. Archer expressed frustration with the lawyers in a June 17 letter to Judge Steeh. "I would like to end my responsibility," Archer said. Besides the cash settlement, Outkast and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Arista Records, LLC, and LaFace Records have agreed to produce an educational DVD commemorating the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks'' infamous arrest on Dec. 1, 1955, for failing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger in Montgomery, Ala. Rosa Parks has lived in Detroit since 1957. Last year, doctors treating Rosa Parks disclosed that she suffers from dementia. |
