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Credit: Chase Sutton

A songwriter from Philadelphia has been awarded more than $44 million in damages after co-writers allegedly cut him out of profits and denied him credit for a song recorded by R&B star Usher.

According to ABC News, Daniel Marino first sued in 2011 after not receiving compensation for a song called "Club Girl.” In 2004, Usher recorded the song, which was renamed “Bad Girl." Marino claims to have created the majority of the song and said specifically that he was responsible for its chord progression, guitar hook, and tempo. He claims his co-writers, William Duice and Dante Barton of Destro Music Production, were merely responsible for the beat and lyrics.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Guice, Barton, and Marino had contractually agreed to split compensation and credit for the song, but this deal was not honored by Guice and Barton. Marino’s complaint indicates that Guice, Barton, and Destro Music Production had signed "secret contracts" with Usher’s team, neglecting to compensate Marino. The songwriter also asserted that "Bad Girl” had earned Guice and Barton around $700,000. 

Marino’s 2011 federal lawsuit was filed against twenty defendants, including Guice, Barton, and Usher. Court records indicate that at the time, a federal judge dismissed the case against every defendant, including Usher, except for certain claims against Guice and Barton. 

Marino then filed the same lawsuit again in 2016, and now after over a decade, a jury in the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court ruled in his favor, awarding him $44.35 million in damages.