Nicki Minaj’s former manager is seeking a court order directing her to answer written questions and pay a nearly $4,000 fine for allegedly not complying with discovery rules in his lawsuit against the rapper, but the singer’s attorneys say in new court papers that the issue is moot.
Brandon Jovan Garrett’s Los Angeles Superior Court complaint accuses the rapper of assault, battery and emotional distress, contending the rapper hit him backstage at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit after an April 21, 2024, concert on her Pink Friday 2 World Tour. The suit filed in January 2025 also names Minaj’s company, Pink Personality Inc., as a defendant.
In April, Garrett’s attorney filed court papers with Judge Eric Harmon in advance of a hearing now set for Nov. 10 asking that Minaj be directed to provide proper information in her responses and pay a $3,900 fine to compensate Garrett for his attorney having to bring the current motion.
But Minaj’s attorneys state in court papers filed Thursday that they provided substantive responses with appropriate objections to each of the six sets of discovery posted by Garrett in July. In addition, the attorneys met in August and Minaj’s lawyers served additional responses in September, according to Minaj’s attorneys’ court papers.
“(Garrett) should be barred from using the outdated motions to compel further responses after the verified further responses were served in July,” Minaj’s lawyers write in their pleadings.
Thus, Garrett’s motions are moot and monetary sanctions are unwarranted because the plaintiff missed a deadline to file motions to compel based on Minaj’s July responses, according to Minaj’s attorneys’ court papers.
According to Garrett’s attorneys’ court papers, the dispute began when Minaj failed to meet a mid-February deadline to submit her responses to the plaintiff’s written questions, but Garrett granted her another week at the Trinidadian entertainer’s lawyer’s request. However, there were no responses from Minaj until March 6 and the answers were “patently deficient” and “consisted entirely of vague, repetitive boilerplate objections and were devoid of any substantive information or answers,” according to Garrett’s lawyers’ court papers.
The motion accuses Minaj of “repeated delays” and the submission of “sham responses” that together have “obstructed the discovery process, impeded plaintiff’s ability to advance the case and unnecessarily burdened plaintiff with additional legal expenses.”
The questions posed to Minaj centered on the alleged assault of her manager and asks her to state “all facts supporting your denial that you threatened plaintiff’s safety” and whether she contends that Garrett “had no reasonable apprehension of imminent harm … and if so, state all facts supporting that contention.”
Minaj also was asked to support her alleged contention that Garrett did not suffer lost wages or emotional distress because of the alleged attack.
The 43-year-old singer’s real name is Onika Tanya Maraj.