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Well-known singer Missy Elliott recently emerged as the winner in a legal case filed by songwriter Terry Williams in 2018. Williams claimed in the lawsuit that he did not get royalties for a single titled Heartbroken, released by the late artist Aaliyah in 1996, despite allegedly co-writing the song. Notably, Elliott also penned the lyrics for the song.
Judge Quinones Alejandro has dismissed the lawsuit, saying that the case was filed around 22 years after the song's release. Alejandro addressed the same as the reason for tossing out the case and said:
"Under these circumstances, this Court further finds that Williams has failed to offer evidence that he exercised due diligence. As such, Williams' co-ownership claim based on the song 'Heartbroken' released by Aaliyah is barred by the three-year statute of limitations."
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Alejandro also stated that there are certain doubts about Terry's claims in the lawsuit, stating that he was the co-author of a few songs that were never released despite being written. Some singles from the list were reportedly added to the tracks released by the girl group Sista, where Missy Elliott was once a member.
While Elliott also filed a motion for summary judgment related to the songs of Sista, the same was rejected by the court. Meanwhile, Elliott has not addressed anything about her win in the legal case as of now.
Aaliyah's single was released around five years before she died in a plane crash in August 2001. The accident claimed the lives of eight more people including Aaliyah's colleagues alongside a family friend named Keith Wallace.
Terry Williams claimed in the lawsuit that he helped Missy Elliott write Heartbroken
As mentioned, Terry sued Elliott in 2018 and he was seeking to be credited as a co-author for Aaliyah's single Heartbroken alongside damages for breach of contract and compensation for unjust enrichment. Williams said in the legal documents that he helped to write and produce the song.
The lawsuit mentioned that a deal was finalized between Terry Williams and Missy Elliott where they agreed to divide the profits equally. Williams stated that he and Elliott worked together in multiple recordings from 1993 to 1996 and although Heartbroken was released in 1996, 34 songs were not released at all.
Terry also mentioned that Heartbroken witnessed a release since Elliott was able to sell it without consulting him for once. Apart from Elliott, the lawsuit was filed against Timbaland, who produced the single, and Aaliyah's estate.
As per TMZ, Missy Elliott's representative dismissed the claims of a deal between her and Williams. The representative said in a statement that Elliott was not required to pay anything to Williams and continued:
"These claims against Missy are completely meritless and without any basis in fact or law, and are simply another facet of the original scheme that was devised to artificially extract money from Missy by exploiting the fact that Terry Williams, in his capacity as a music producer, happened to have recordings of Missy from more than 20 years ago."
Although Missy Elliott initially became popular for her work with the group Sista, she later had a successful solo career. She has released six albums so far and her last major project was The Cookbook, which came out in July 2005.
