Who is Jeanette Vargas? Judge denies UMG’s motion to delay April 2 pretrial hearing in Drake's defamation lawsuit

On March 4, Judge Jeanette Vargas made a ruling on a new motion filed in Drake's defamation lawsuit. The motion was filed by the Universal Music Group (UMG) to delay an upcoming pretrial hearing scheduled for April 2, 2025.

Vargas wrote in her legal statement:

"It is not the practice of this Court to routinely stay discovery pending the outcome of a motion to dismiss... A party seeking a stay of discovery shall file a letter-motion pursuant to this Court's Individual Rules and Practices in Civil Cases. Any such letter-motion will be discussed at the April 2 conference."

Jeannette A. Vargas is the District Judge in the Southern District of New York. Per her LinkedIn profile, Vargas started her career in law by working as an Associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in 2000 and joined the US Court of Appeals (Second Circuit) as a Law Clerk in 2001.

A year later, Jeannette joined the US Attorney's Office in the southern district of New York as an Assistant US Attorney - a position she held for 22 years. In November 2024, Vargas was appointed as the US District Judge.

She received her bachelor's degree (majoring in Political Science and Government) from Harvard University and studied Law at Yale Law School between 1997 and 2000.

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Drake's procedural victory comes after a motion filed by his legal team

The judge's ruling came in Drizzy's favor nearly 10 days after Michal J. Gottlieb - the God's Plan rapper's attorney - filed a new motion in response to UMG's request to push the pretrial ahead on February 24.

The motion states that Drizzy's legal counsel had voiced his concerns to UMG in multiple discussions, adding:

"Plaintiff first notified UMG regarding his legal claims on July 24, 2024, and counsel conferred a number of times regarding those claims prior to initiating this litigation. By no later than September 16, 2024, UMG had actual notice that Plaintiff intended to sue UMG regarding these claims."

Gottlieb also claimed in the motion, that in the past, UMG's counsel had informed the attorney of the organization's intention to file a dismissal motion for Drizzy's lawsuit. The attorney speculated that UMG's motion to push the pretrial ahead could potentially be an attempt to do the same.

Per Drake's new motion, Gottlieb tried to contact UMG to learn about their availability for the hearing. However, the latter didn't offer sufficient evidence to support their need for delay.

Then, addressing why a delay in the defamation trial was proving problematic for the In My Feelings rapper, the motion referred to Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime performance, stating:

"Delaying discovery would unfairly prejudice Plaintiff, who is continuing to suffer the consequences of UMG’s defamatory campaign. Indeed, at the same time UMG has been delaying here, UMG launched new campaigns to further spread the defamatory content, including at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, which had over 133.5 million viewers."

Now that UMG's request has been denied by Judge Jeannette A. Vargas in court, the pretrial hearing for the lawsuit will take place on April 2, 2025, as scheduled.

Drake's lawsuit, filed on January 15, 2025, accuses UMG of intentionally promoting Lamar's diss track, Not Like Us - which calls him a p*dophile - in an attempt to "devalue Drake's music and brand". The lawsuit reads:

"UMG anticipated that extending Drake's contract would be costly. By devaluing Drake's music and brand, UMG would gain leverage to force Drake to sign a new deal on terms more favorable to UMG."

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Drake is signed to UMG through his record label, Republic Records. Meanwhile, his rival, Kendrick Lamar, is signed under the Interscope label, a division of UMG.