Flo Rida successfully won an appeal against an Australian court’s decision to fine the rapper $400,000 in damages after pulling a no-show at the 2011 Fat As Butter festival.
Fat As Butter promoters, Mothership Music, sued the 33-year-old for breach of contract and damages after he refused to take the stage at the 2011 festival, shunning the 11,000 fans in attendance that had each paid at least $110 for a ticket.
Flo Rida was odered to pay $380,000 in damages and $20,000 in legal fees last August, but won his appeal earlier this week, arguing that the decision of a New South Wales judge to issue a court summons over Facebook was inappropriate.
Judge Judith Gibson made the unprecedented move of allowing the rapper to be served his court order via a Facebook wall post in May 2012, a method deemed inappropriate by the NSW Court of Appeal.
“The evidence did not establish, other than by mere assertion, that the Facebook page was in fact that of Flo Rida and did not prove that a posting on it was likely to come to his attention in a timely fashion,” Justice Robert McFarlan said in the Court of Appeal decision.
Flo Rida allegedly bailed on his performance because he was unsatisified with the accommodation the festival had provided. He received a $55,000 fee for the event.
Fat As Butter has recuperated from the Flo Rida disaster and will go ahead again this year, headlined by Gym Class Heroes, Bliss N Eso, Matt Corby, Boy & Bear, Mickey Avalon and Cosmo Jarvis.
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