Nicki Minaj’s legal troubles have taken a costly new turn. Her former lawyers have asked a Los Angeles court to enter a default judgment of $295,605 against her over legal bills they say she never paid — and a hearing that will decide the matter is set for Monday, 16 November. The Nicki Minaj default judgment bid, filed on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, is the newest development in a dispute ReportRig covered yesterday, and it raises the stakes considerably.
The firm, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, represented Minaj in a copyright infringement case over her 2014 song “I Lied”, which songwriter Julius Johnson claimed copied the beat and instrumentation of his track “onmysleeve”. That underlying dispute ended in a private settlement and was dismissed — but, according to the firm, its invoice for the work was never settled. The firm sued in March 2026 and says the case “has not been responded to in any way” by the rapper.
The $295,605 Breakdown
The figure the firm is asking for is itemised in the filing. It billed Minaj and her company, Harajuku Barbie Music LLC, $229,541.75 for legal work, according to TheWrap. On top of that come $25,249.51 in contractual late fees, $37,825 for the cost of chasing the debt, and $2,989.15 in court costs — bringing the total to $295,605.41.
It is important to be precise about what this is. A default judgment can be entered when a defendant fails to respond to a lawsuit, but the $295,605 is a request, not an award — no judge has ordered Minaj to pay it, and the 16 November hearing is where the court decides. Defaults have already been entered against Minaj and her company, but the money judgment itself has not been granted. Representatives for Minaj did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
A Second Front in New York
The Los Angeles case is only one of two legal fronts. In New York, the firm Kurzman Eisenberg Corbin & Lever is seeking to withdraw from a case filed against Minaj by concert production company 24/7 Productions, which claims she refused to reimburse $275,000 spent on her iHeartRadio 2023 Jingle Ball concerts and shows tied to Pink Friday 2. The firm told the court its relationship with Minaj had “irretrievably broken down”. Judge Leslie A. Stroth has temporarily paused those proceedings and scheduled a hearing for 1 December to address the firm’s request to withdraw.
The filings cap a difficult autumn for Minaj. A petition calling for her deportation passed 100,000 signatures this week, her open support for Donald Trump continues to divide her fanbase, and the creator of Chucky publicly rebuked her this week over a social media post. The courtroom, though, is where the most immediate consequences sit: two firms, two coasts, and two hearing dates — 16 November in Los Angeles, 1 December in New York — that will decide how much of this she has to pay.
