Bad Bunny just won a major legal victory and now he’s making sure the other side pays for it.
The Puerto Rican superstar is demanding that emPawa Africa cover his $465,612 legal bill after he crushed a copyright lawsuit over “Enséñame a Bailar” from his 2022 album Un Verano Sin Ti.
According to Rolling Stone, Bad Bunny’s legal team filed the motion on March 23, arguing that the case was “meritless from the beginning.”
Nigerian producer Dera (Ezeani Chidera Godfrey) and emPawa Africa claimed that “Enséñame a Bailar” used an uncleared sample from a 2019 track, “Empty My Pocket,” which Dera produced for Joeboy.
They wanted $25 million in damages. Bad Bunny’s team maintained they’d properly licensed the sample from Lakizo Entertainment, which had distributed the original track.
The whole thing fell apart when Dera’s lawyers quit in January, citing “irreparable differences” over legal strategy.
After Dera failed to show up for a February 5 discovery hearing and missed a March 6 deadline to keep the case alive, Judge Otis D. Wright II dismissed the lawsuit on March 9 with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled.
Bad Bunny’s attorneys argued that emPawa had been “aggressively litigating” a case they knew was weak, hoping Bad Bunny’s wealth and desire to avoid bad publicity would force him to settle.
Instead, the label’s own counsel abandoned ship.
Bunny’s legal team, led by attorney Karen L. Stetson and a crew from Gray Robinson, racked up hundreds of billable hours at rates between $555 and $680 per hour.
This legal strategy mirrors what other artists have done after winning copyright cases.
Mariah Carey recently demanded $1 million from her accuser over “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” and Nelly sought $78,000 after beating a lawsuit over Country Grammar.
