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Flo Rida Must Pay $80K for Australia Concert No-Show

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on April 16, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Rapper Flo Rida must fork over more than $80,000 to an Australian concert promoter -- crikey! -- or risk having his assets frozen "Down Under."

A judge in the Australian state of New South Wales ordered Flo Rida, whose real name is Tramar Dillard, to pay for damages after he allegedly cancelled a concert with just two hours' notice last fall, the New York Post reports.

Concert promoters had paid Flo Rida an upfront appearance fee of $50,000. And concertgoers -- more than 10,000 of them -- coughed up more than $100 for tickets.

Unfortunately Flo Rida, the Australian concert's headliner, had apparently flipped out.

"We basically got a call at 3 p.m. saying Flo Rida had thrown a hissy fit," the spurned Australian concert promoter said in October, the Post reports. Flo Rida "was not happy about his Sydney accommodation and had stormed off."

A lawyer for the promoter's company, Mothership Music, sued for out-of-pocket costs including hotels and vehicle rental, as well as for damage to Mothership's "business and goodwill."

The legal action likely centers on the promoter's claim that Flo Rida breached his Australian concert contract. In the United States, and apparently in Australia as well, a breach of contract by one party generally entitles the non-breaching party to sue for damages.

Damages may include compensatory damages, to restore the non-breaching party -- the concert promoter -- to the position it was in before Flo Rida's alleged breach. This seems to be what the Australian court is ordering Flo Rida to pay.

Punitive damages are also possible to punish a breaching party, but they are very rarely awarded in cases involving business contracts.

In some cases, a contract may call for liquidated damages -- an amount set in the contract in the event of a breach. But courts have held that liquidated damages must be a reasonable estimate of actual damages that may result from a breach.

Flo Rida was "Down Under" last week and performed for an Australian TV awards show on Sunday. So far, there's been no comment from Flo Rida about having to pay for his cancelled Australia concert.

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