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The decade-long legal saga linking Jay-Z and Rymir Satterthwaite has quietly—and definitively—come to an end. In a move that surprised even close observers, Hov declined to seek a single dollar in attorney fees after winning the case outright in federal court.
According to new filings, the Roc Nation founder let the judge’s deadline lapse without requesting reimbursement. Earlier this week, a federal judge in Los Angeles confirmed the matter is permanently closed, and the window for one Shawn Carter to recoup costs has officially expired.
It marks a surprisingly understated close to a dispute that’s lingered for more than ten years.
Back in July, Satterthwaite voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit accusing Jay-Z of being his biological father and claiming the rapper refused to submit to a DNA test. At the time, he insisted the move was tactical.
“I did withdraw my case, but it’s for a reason. I have not stopped my fight,” he said during a livestream. “I have not gotten any DNA test. I have not gotten a settlement. It is not over.”
But legally, at least on the federal level, it is.
In November, U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett dismissed a related case filed by Satterthwaite’s godmother and legal guardian, Lillie Coley, who repeated long-standing allegations that Jay-Z had a relationship with Satterthwaite’s late mother in the early ’90s and used his influence to avoid accountability. The dismissal—with prejudice—bars any future attempt to revive those claims in federal court.
Throughout years of filings in New Jersey and elsewhere, Hov’s legal team has maintained a consistent position: the allegations are false, unsupported, and have never been validated in any court. Earlier this year, his attorneys characterized the wave of filings as a “decades-long harassment campaign,” noting that no court has found grounds to compel a DNA test or substantiate the claims.
With the case closed and no pursuit of legal fees, Jay-Z appears ready to leave the saga behind. Satterthwaite continues to insist privately that his personal fight isn’t over, but from a legal standpoint, the road forward has narrowed to almost nothing.
