Cardi B’s highly anticipated showdown with the man claiming she stole his distinct back tattoo has been postponed.
One of the lawyers representing Cardi in the 5-year battle has become seriously ill, so a California judge has agreed to postpone rapper Cardi B’s upcoming trial until later in the fall.
According to an order on Friday, July 29th, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney rescheduled her August 3rd trial until October 8th. He granted the extension because Cardi’s lawyer, Alan G. Dowling’s health problems were so bad that he would not be able to represent her.
Civil minutes from the court say, “Due to the unavailability of defense counsel because of serious illness, the court continues the trial date in this case to Tuesday, October 18th, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. Defendants are ordered to substitute new counsel by Friday, August 12th, 2022.
Dowling started working on this case in October 2017, after Kevin Michael Brophy, a musician, and surfer, alleged the cover of her first project, “Gangsta B##ch Music, Vol. 1,” featured a private picture of him appearing to simulate oral sex on her.
As reported by AllHipHop.com, Kevin Michael Brophy contends the back tattoo is his and this distortion of the image, misappropriates his likeness.
The outrageous cover shows the Grammy Award-winning star tossing back a 40-ounce of beer while a man is snuggled comfortably between her opened thighs.
Brophy insists the man is him, saying the back tattoo of a snake and a tiger displayed on the album art was stolen and superimposed without his consent.
Cardi B, real name Belcalis Almanzar, slammed the lawsuit during a deposition, saying, “It’s ridiculous. It’s wasting my time. It’s wasting my money. Like, I could really be with my kid right now. Like, I’m really upset because I really have to be with my kid…All because of some bulls##t.”
Kevin Michael Brophy is asking for $5 million in damages and a percentage of the project’s earnings since its release.
August 3rd was supposed to be the start of jury selection for the trial. But like at times before, something came up to deter proceedings. In October of 2021, Brophy’s lawyer Larry Conlan wanted to sanction Cardi after she was granted a new trial date because she had just given birth the previous month.
But instead of resting, the rapper jetted off to Paris, France, for Fashion Week, which sent Brophy and his legal team into a rage. They ultimately lost their attempt at sanctions.
Brophy’s attorney Larry Conlan said to Law & Crime in an email, “We’ve been ready to try this case for two years now. Of course, we’re not happy about another delay, but it will be brief, and then our client can finally get this invasion of his privacy stopped, and justice served.”