Yellowcard are set to proceed with their $15 million lawsuit against Juice WRLD.
The late SoundCloud rap trailblazer was first hit with a lawsuit in October 2019, prior to his death. Yellowcard alleged that the rapper copied elements of their track ‘Holly Wood Died’ in his breakout single ‘Lucid Dreams’, without permission.
The lawsuit was put on hold back in February, because no one had been appointed as the executor of Juice WRLD’s estate at the time.
Now, as XXL reports, court documents filed on Wednesday, July 1st, have revealed that the lawsuit is set to go ahead, with Juice’s mother named head of the estate.
The suit alleges that Juice WRLD — real name Jarad Anthony Higgins — alongside producers Taz Taylor and Nick Mira copied the Yell0wcard 2006 record ‘Holly Wood Died’, on Higgins six-times platinum track ‘Lucid Dreams’. Yellowcard is seeking $15 million, and “running royalty and/or ownership share”. The band has also requested to receive damages from Juice WRLD’s tours.
The complaint offers a chart analysing the two songs for compositional similarities — noting shared common elements including hooked, vocal melodies and “melodic idiosyncrasy” in melisma, which Yellowcard have claimed to appear in “parallel position” in both songs.
“The high degree of objective similarity between the Original Work and the Infringing Work extends well beyond the possibility of coincidence and could only reasonably be the result of an act of copying.”
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It also emphasises the late rappers love for “emo pop-rock” — the genre of music Yellowcard falls under — citing the rappers previous nods to Fall Out Boy’s 2005 album, From Under the Cork Tree. An album produced by Neal Avron, who also produced “Holly Wood Died.”
“Since it is very common for a fan of works produced for an artist by a specific producer to listen to other works by that same producer,” the complaint states, “it is likely that Defendant Juice Wrld’s appreciation for the album From Under the Cork Tree led to exposure to Yellowcard’s album Lights and Sounds and the Original Work ‘Holly Wood Died.'”
Court documents name BMG Rights Management and Juice’s record label, Interscope, reveal that Juice’s estate is seeking legal counsel to continue court proceedings in Florida.
“The Estate has engaged separate counsel to initiate probate proceedings in Florida, one purpose of which was to appoint a personal representative to act on its behalf in this lawsuit,” the document states. “Probate counsel has informed Defendants’ counsel that the probate court has appointed Carmela Wallace as personal representative for the Estate. Consequently, the Estate now can participate in this case.”
