Money Matters, Simplified.
Ex-manager sues Taylor Swift for violation of contract
by Samia Sehgal - October 9, 2010 - comments
Dan Dymtrow has claimed that the Grammy-winning singer owes him millions in commissions as he was the one to have discovered her talent and helped her launch her career.
Taylor Swift’s former manager has sued the star for cheating him out of millions of dollars. Dan Dymtrow has claimed that the Grammy-winning singer owes him millions in commissions as he was the one to have discovered her talent and helped her launch her career.
The music manager, who has also represented pop-superstar Britney Spears, alleges that Swift and her parents had agreed to pay him 5 to 10 percent of her earnings, back in 2004, when she was just preparing to embark on her singing career.
Dymtrow’s role in Swift’s career
Dymtrow says that he had signed Swift in April 2004, when she was just 14. He claims to have played a key role in building her career, but was dumped in July 2005, just before Swift hit it big.
Soon after, she was signed by music industry giant Big Machine Records and went on to become an international sensation but Dymtrow got no credit.
He alleges that the Swift family dropped him because they were trying to avoid his payments.
For him to claim that her success and her major contracts were procured by him is ludicrous, said Swift's lawyer, Paul LiCalsion about Dan Dymtrow.
Dymtrow says he was only paid $10,000 for launching Taylor Swift’s career.
“They delayed and delayed the deal and got rid of my client and subsequently signed the deal and kept his commissions for themselves,” Dymtrow’s attorney Fernando Pinguelo said.
Dymtrow’s claims countered
Swift’s lawyer has negated Dymtrow’s claims, saying the manager failed to obtain the required court approval of his management contract with Taylor, who was then a minor.
The deal with him was legally called off in 2005, months before she was signed by Big Machine and almost an year before she hit it big on the international circuit, with the release of her debut single ‘Tim McGraw.’
“For him to claim that her success and her major contracts were procured by him is ludicrous,” said Swift's lawyer, Paul LiCalsi of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp. “And even if there were some merit to his claims, paying him on the contract would defeat the whole purpose of the law in New York, which is to protect minors who sign contracts.”
The two sides have been arguing over this for three years, when Dymtrow sued Taylor Swift and her parents for violating a management contract.
Back in March, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan rejected six of Dymtrow's claims against the Swifts and Big Machine, leaving an unjust-enrichment claim intact.