A New York appeals court has rejected 50 Cent's bid to automatically win a lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins over her "tell-all" Instagram posts. The rapper, real name Curtis Jackson, had sued Tompkins through his publishing company G-Unit Books, alleging her posts breached a 2007 agreement in which she supposedly sold him the rights to her life story in perpetuity. The ruling on Thursday (9 July) means the case will return to a lower court, where Tompkins will be able to mount a full defence.

50 Cent's lawyers had sought a default judgment, arguing that Tompkins took months to respond to the suit. However, the appeals court found her delay reasonable, noting it was not even clear she had ever been properly served, as the rapper's side failed to prove she lived at any of the addresses where service was attempted. Tompkins, mother of Jackson's son Marquise, went viral with posts commenting on Sean "Diddy" Combs's criminal trial that referenced the rapper's 2000 shooting and his feud with Combs. She says the $80,000 contract was signed under duress as a "take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum" and is therefore invalid.