Megan Thee Stallion has secured an early win in her defamation case in opposition to blogger Milagro Elizabeth Cooper, aka Gramz.
According to court docket paperwork reviewed by ComplexU.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid has ordered sanctions in opposition to Gramz for “deleting thousands of text messages” that might have supported the plaintiff’s case.
Megan (actual title Megan Pete) sued Gramz in 2024, alleging the YouTuber and hip-hop commentator had participated in a web-based smear marketing campaign in opposition to her. The Grammy-winning rapper claimed Gramz had deliberately unfold false and damaging details about her on the behest of Tory Lanez, the Canadian rapper who was sentenced to 10 years in jail for taking pictures Megan in 2020.
Megan’s authorized staff alleged that Gramz was a paid “mouthpiece” who had labored with Lanez (authorized title Daystar Peterson) and his father, Sonstar Peterson.
“Daystar himself is unable to speak or post directly regarding Pete due to restrictions in the underlying criminal action,” the authorized doc learn. “Pete alleges that Defendant has a close relationship with both Daystar and Sonstar Peterson, as evidenced through Defendant’s social media postings… Thus, communications between and relating to Defendant, Daystar, and Sonstar are material to Plaintiff’s claims and are the focal point of these spoliation proceedings.”
According to the order, a forensic investigation decided that Gramz had deleted textual content messages from her units in addition to the WhatsApp messaging app, regardless of the court docket’s orders to protect the info. Judge Reid states Gramz knew she had an obligation to protect the proof and that her “pattern of deletions indicate bad faith spoliation, inherently prejudicing Plaintiff.”
In gentle of the forensic discoveries, the choose has permitted the jury to presume the deleted info was unfavorable to Gramz’s protection.
Per the ruling: “While the burden of creating prejudice usually falls on the social gathering searching for sanctions, the Court notes that Plaintiff will possible by no means be capable of show what was contained in the destroyed textual content messages, and that solely Defendant, the social gathering who engaged in the destruction, is aware of how a lot prejudice has been (probably) induced.”
In addition to the punitive adverse inference instruction, Gramz was ordered to cover Megan’s legal fees and costs related to the spoliation issue. The parties will have five days to determine how much Megan is owed; if in the next 10 days they fail to agree on a set amount, the plaintiff must go to the judge with the requested payment and the related billable time entries.
“It’s time to carry bloggers accountable for years of harassment, cyberbullying, and the publication of misinformation about my private {and professional} life,” Megan said in a 2024 statement announcing the lawsuit. “I’ve endured numerous assaults on my character primarily based on false narratives from social media bloggers misrepresenting themselves as journalists. It’s unacceptable conduct and these people want to know there will probably be repercussions for recklessly posting lies and defamatory falsehoods.”