Lee Daniels Responds To Damon Dash’s $25M Lawsuit

“The Butler” director Lee Daniels responded to a $25 million lawsuit filed against him by music mogul Damon Dash saying that the claims “are completely without merit.” The lawsuit reportedly claims that Daniels failed to pay Dash after he invested in his projects.

Dash is reportedly suing the 54-year-old actor over production work on projects like “The Butler,” “The Paperboy,” “Precious,” and “Shadowboxer.” Dash’s attorneys filed a summons on Thursday in New York state court in Manhattan. Dash is also reportedly seeking $1 million from Simome Sheffield, who has been co-producer of many films by Daniels.

Daniels “attempt to deprive Plaintiff of the monetary benefits and producer and executive producer credits owed to Mr. Dash as per the parties' agreements along with any ownership rights normally conferred therewith,” the summons reportedly stated.

The lawsuit also mentioned a 2004 film “The Woodsman” starring Kevin Bacon.

"I was funding my own movies. So I funded 'The Woodsman' for Lee Daniels. ... He swore to God I was gonna get my money back. ... The movie ended up costing like $12 million. And I had no say in how it came out. They didn't want me as part of the perception of the marketing of it....And I ended up never getting my money back," Dash reportedly told HipHopdx, an entertainment news outlet.

According to TMZ, Dash also claimed in the lawsuit that he had been expecting producer credits on some of Daniels’ films.

The former manager of rapper Jay Z and co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records had been reportedly facing financial trouble in the past few years.