What happened between Nelly and Ali Jones? Former asks court to sanction fellow St. Lunatics member after the latter drops copyright lawsuit

St. Lunatics filed a $50 million lawsuit against their former band member Nelly, aka Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., for copyright infringement in September 2024 in New York Federal Court.

The band allegedly accused Cornell of not crediting them for the success of his album Country Grammar. They claimed that Cornell had assured them credits on his debut album, only to supposedly lie and take full credit for the teamwork.

In October 2024, TMZ reported exclusively that the singer's legal representative, N. Scott Rosenblum, mentioned that all the other members except Ali Jones wished to opt out of the lawsuit since they had not provided authorization.

In November 2024, Ali's attorneys filed a revised version of the lawsuit, placing only Ali as the plaintiff. Attorney Precious Felder Gates stated that Ali would fight for the unpaid royalties he is entitled to.

In January 2025, Nelly's attorneys argued that the lawsuit was filed years after the statute of limitations had expired and asked the court to penalize Ali's attorneys:

"Plaintiff and his counsel should be sanctioned in the full amount...that Haynes has been forced to incur in defending his action. That is because plaintiff's claims should never have been brought in the first place."

Why did St. Lunatics member Ali Jones drop a lawsuit against Nelly?

As per Billboard, Ali Jones dropped the pending litigation against former St. Lunatics member Nelly on April 10.

While Ali's attorneys have not provided a reason for withdrawing the lawsuit, Nelly's attorney, Ken Freundlich, asked the judge not to dismiss the case yet and to sanction Ali's lawyer:

"Plaintiff's counsel succeeded in its frivolous campaign aimed at forcing Haynes to spend money defending Plaintiff's ridiculous time-barred claims. The court is respectfully requested to retain jurisdiction and set a briefing and hearing schedule for (potential sanctions)."

It will be interesting to see how Nelly's professional relationship with the St. Lunatics members plays out while he's on a global tour with them.

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In September, the rapper announced news of a global tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his debut studio album, 2000s Country Grammar. The tour kicked off on March 21 with a gig at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, and the band, along with Haynes, is also set to tour in Australia, Canada, Europe, and North America.

The rapper will also welcome several guest collaborators, including Ja Rule, Jermaine Dupri, Eve, St. Lunatics, and Fabulous.

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