Sam Smith and Normani were victorious in a lawsuit claiming they stole their 2019 hit, “Dancing with a Stranger,” from a song that came out in 2015. Now, they want the people who accused them to pay up.
Billboard reports the two singers want the songwriters who accused them to reimburse them for the money they spent on legal bills while defending themselves — bills which amount to more than $732,000.
Peter Anderson, a lawyer for Sam and Normani, argued that they shouldn’t have to pay for a “frivolous and unreasonable” lawsuit, writing, “Defective copyright infringement claims, like Plaintiff’s claims here, burden the court, cause potentially damaging negative publicity for recording artists … and others, and force needless attorney’s fees on them.”
“Awarding attorney’s fees here will deter … others from filing and blindly prosecuting such claims without anything close to the required factual and legal basis,” the lawyer added.
As Billboard reports, last month, U.S. District Judge Wesley L. Hsu ruled that the two songs were not similar and criticized the accusers — songwriters Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda and Rosco Banlaoi — for manipulating the songs to make them appear the same.
As for the big bill, Sam and Normani say they were “perfectly justified” in spending that much, considering the songwriters were asking for all the profits from “Dancing with a Stranger,” which was a multi-Platinum hit.
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