Day on Torts
Dayontorts.com knows no bounds to bring you what’s goin’ down in tort law.
Apparently my man Eminem (is it still cool to say “my man”?)(come to think about it, is is still cool to say “cool”?) wrote a “song” called Brain Damage, and told Rolling Stone that the song lyrics that discussed his childhood experiences with the plaintiff DeAngelo Bailey were true. Plaintiff decided to sue Eminem, thankfully deciding that it was a better course than cappin’ the dude. The suit alleged false-light invasion of privacy and negligence.
The Michigan Court of Appeals held that a claim of false-light invasion of privacy was not made out because the song contains several clues that the lyrics should not be taken literally and, given plaintiff’s admission that he picked on Eminem and did “bully type things” to him, the “substantial truth” test was met.
The negligence claim was dismissed because the plaintiff did not properly raise that issue on appeal.
The opinion includes the one verse (?) of the lyrics that gave rise to the action. I would repeat it here but I don’t use that kind of language, particularly on Mother’s Day.
It seems only right that a Midwest boy (Eminem grew up in Michigan; I grew up in Wisconsin) would comment on this opinion in rap:
Eminem’s a singin’ dude
And he got sued
For writin’ a song
That DeAngelo said was wrong.
Then they went to court
Where a judge was left to sort
Through the material facts
Actively diggin’ through the cracks
Lookin’ fo’ a genuine issue
Poor Eminem, he’s needs a tissue.
But the judge threw ’em out
‘Said “I know what this is about.”
“DeAngelo, you were mean
On the junior high scene
You were a bully – you get no money
Tell that to your new honey.”
See – you can write great rap without a single cuss word.