Offset owes a car rental company money — and a lot of it.
Uproxx reports that the Migos rapper was recently ordered to pay more than $950,000 for a Bentley that he allegedly rented from a luxury auto rental company in Los Angeles — which was subsequently stolen.
For what it’s worth, the value of the Bentley in question is roughly $177,000 — and it’s the demand for more than five times the value of the car that has Offset up in arms.
What’s more, the outlet reports that he didn’t even know about the judgment until the entertainment lawyers for his wife — Cardi B — went down to the Superior Court in Los Angeles and obtained the paperwork. He further claims that the reason he didn’t get the paperwork had nothing to do with his desire to “ignore” the lawsuit, and everything to do with the fact that the attorneys for the auto rental company mailed the paperwork to his father’s address — where he hadn’t lived for quite some time.
And if all that wasn’t enough, Offset further claims that it was the mother of one of his children that “lost” the car in question, too.
Regardless of the facts of the matter, a default judgment has been entered against the man born Kiari Kendrell Cephus. Let’s take a look at what that means — and what he can do about it.
First of all, what is a default judgment?
According to Investopedia, a default judgment occurs when a defendant fails to respond to a plaintiff’s action in court, thus “forcing the court’s hand” to rule in favor of the plaintiff. While the laws on default judgments vary from state to state — for example, not every state automatically rules that a financial settlement can be granted to the plaintiff — the end result is still the same: the plaintiff wins the case because the defendant fails to contest the action.
However, a default judgment isn’t always considered “final.” For example, if a defendant can prove that he or she was not properly served with the lawsuit papers (which is what Offset is claiming in his case), the default judgment can be vacated.
Here's what the plaintiff claims
TMZ reports that Offset was sued back in February 2021 for the disappearance of the car.
The outlet reports that back in the spring of 2020, the Migos rapper rented a car from the Platinum Transportation Group in Los Angeles, CA. Unfortunately, Offset kept changing the terms of the lease — and held onto it for longer than he was supposed to.
“PTG claims it drew up a contract with Offset in May, recognizing him as a repeat customer of theirs. At first, Platinum says the deal was to rent their new 2020 Bentley Bentayga for a couple of days at a rate of just less than $600 a day,” reports the outlet. “They claim that initial rental period kept on getting pushed out by Offset … and a new deal was allegedly made to have him hold onto the whip ’til late July.”
And then, when the company finally came to get the car, it was suddenly no longer there. What’s more, the company claims that Offset stopped making payments on the lease of the car, even though he held it for longer than he was originally supposed to.
That’s what prompted the lawsuit — which Platinum Transportation Group won by default.
Offset, of course, has a different story
More than a year after the lawsuit was first filed, Offset has finally responded, according to Rolling Stone.
And he wants an appeal — post-haste.
According to the rapper, things didn’t play out the way Platinum Transportation Group claims at all. He says that when the car first went missing, he immediately called PTG to disclose that it was gone. He also claimed that it was the mother of one of his children that initially leased the Bentley — and he was never on the rental agreement.
Finally, he claims he was never properly served with the papers in the lawsuit — and for that reason, he wants the default judgment reversed.
“Not hearing otherwise from PML or the Los Angeles Police Department in 2020 or thereafter, I assumed that the Bentley — which was very unique and which I believed was protected with OnStar or some other electronic detection device — had either been recovered or that any loss had been covered by PML’s insurance,” he said in a written statement obtained by Rolling Stone.
A hearing is set for next month.
