Key Takeaways
- Sean “Diddy” Combs disputes his former lawyers’ billing, accusing them of overcharging, while Sher Tremonte seeks $581,893.75 for his defamation case against Courtney Burgess, Ariel Mitchell and Nexstar alone.
- Sher Tremonte denies overcharging and wants liens covering case files and any settlement or judgment Combs wins; Judge John P. Cronan still must decide the amount owed and whether to grant the charging lien.
- The demand follows a separate court order requiring Combs to pay $477,700.50 in legal fees after his failed lawsuit over Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing a $581,893.75 bill from his former civil lawyers, and that number covers only one of his lawsuits.
According to an October 30 letter to Judge John P. Cronan reviewed by Complex, Sher Tremonte LLP asked the court to set its retaining lien at that amount in Combs' defamation case against Courtney Burgess, Ariel Mitchell, and Nexstar.
The firm is also asking for a charging lien in the same amount. That lien could reach money from any settlement or judgment Combs wins against the defendants.
Michael Tremonte backed the figure under oath. The declaration also refers to a spreadsheet of hours and billing rates for the Burgess case, filed under seal. The firm skipped the actual invoices because it has handled dozens of matters for Combs over more than two years, and those bills mix work from many cases. It said it would hand the invoices over under seal if Cronan asks for them.
The fight went public on Monday, September 14, when the firm moved to withdraw. It said Combs was more than six months behind on payments and cited "a total breakdown in cooperation and communication."
Cronan let Sher Tremonte withdraw and granted it a retaining lien on the case files, pending documentation of how much Combs owed.
Combs previously cast the split as a billing dispute.
"I made the decision to switch lawyers because I won't let anyone take advantage of me by overcharging me and running up bills that were never approved," he said in a statement in September, per NBC News.
Tremonte has pushed back, also telling NBC News that "any suggestion that we overcharged him is simply false."
The new bill comes weeks after Justice Phaedra F. Perry-Bond ordered Combs on October 6 to pay $477,700.50 of the legal fees NBCUniversal and its co-defendants spent fighting his failed suit over Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy, according to People.
Cronan still has to decide whether the firm is owed the full $581,893.75 and whether to grant the charging lien.
