Damon Dash suffered a legal setback and was out of luck after his attorneys filed to stop representing him in a rapidly intensifying federal court fight. With the looming $4 million judgment Dash owes filmmaker Josh Webber, Dash is now expected to file for bankruptcy, and his legal team may have decided they don't want to be around for the spectacle. In documents filed on April 28, Dash's lawyers asked a judge to dismiss the case because they claim he's not really playing ball with them.
In the court filing, Rev. Chocolatine paints a picture of a client who has become unresponsive when they need to communicate most. Dash has refused to testify about his assets as ordered by a bankruptcy court, saying that he plans to file for bankruptcy, so there is no point in responding. In his opinion, everyone involved can "wait for the bankruptcy process."
His legal team didn't like that more hands-off approach, Argyelan and Freiman wrote in their letter to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Yet he's been making it "more" challenging for them to represent him due to his previous alleged communications disconnects, which are all for the worse, even in other matters. It was the legal rough equal of "We can't help a man who won't help himself."
In their request to withdraw from the case, the lawyers seek a 30-day stay. That window would enable Dash to secure new legal representation and complete his bankruptcy filing. Dash and Poppington LLC were served, and Webber's lawyers were copied. This lawsuit arises from a relationship between Dash and filmmaker Josh Webber that has long since turned sour. And now, as tensions mount in court, Dash's financial standing appears less stable than ever.
When asked about his assets, Dash told someone making demands that he does not "have any personal jewelry" despite a flashy appearance on social media postings. He also denied having any ownership stake in several entities mentioned in the case's discovery phase, seemingly to extricate himself from anything that could be seen as financial leverage.
That's a far cry from the former jet-setting Dash, who co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records with Jay-Z. It has become hard to escape the notion that legal problems and financial woes have taken over.
While bankruptcy might provide Dash with some breathing room, the money isn't going to disappear, at least not without a fight. And now, with no legal team in his corner, that fight just became a lot tougher. The next few weeks will be pivotal as Dash tries to regroup and plot its path forward. He's got much rebuilding to do, not just in the courtroom.
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