Fairly Legal

Trey Songz has been ordered to write a pretty hefty check ... in connection with a battery case filed last year.

In new court documents obtained by TMZ ... the singer has been ordered to pay Tyrelle Dunn -- a Maryland Capitol police officer who says he was injured after he tried to rescue his wife from Songz's hotel room in 2021 -- more than $11 million in damages.

TMZ broke the story at the time ... Songz was accused of misconduct while in Sin City for his 37th birthday back in Nov. 2021. The "Bottoms Up" artist allegedly brought a group of women back to his hotel room at The Cosmopolitan ... which is where Dunn alleged in his lawsuit that his wife screamed for help and said she was being held against her will.

The traffic citations Tyreek Hill was hit with following that now-infamous September run-in with cops have been dismissed, TMZ Sports has confirmed.

According to court records, the seatbelt violation and the careless driving infraction police officers issued to Hill back on Sept. 8 were both thrown out on Monday.

Florida journalist Andy Slater reported Tuesday the cases' dispositions were related to Miami-Dade Police officers failing to appear for a court hearing.

Drake seems to think there's some shadiness behind Kendrick Lamar's monster hit, "Not Like Us" ... and he's filed legal docs to investigate how it got so big.

Of course, "Not Like Us" is the song that effectively ended the Kendrick and Drake beef ... because its popularity buried Drake -- but now, he's alleging Universal Music Group used bots and a payola scheme to pump up the song.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, Drake says an "inside source" told him UMG made "covert payments" to multiple platforms, including radio stations, to play and promote the hell outta "Not Like Us." Legally, that's known as payola, and it's prohibited by the FCC.

Conor McGregor is owning up to his past mistakes after his civil case ... sharing his remorse for cheating on his longtime partner, Dee Devlin -- but reaffirming his actions six years ago were entirely consensual.

The UFC superstar released yet another statement on the results of the month-long case ... this time, he admitted he's far from perfect and never should have entertained Nikita Ni Lamhain's "outreaches" following a 2018 Christmas party.

"I should have shut the party down," McGregor said. "I should never have stepped out on the woman I love the most in the world. That’s all on me."

Erik and Lyle Menendez don't appear to be getting out of prison before the holidays ... because their upcoming resentencing hearing has been delayed.

The Menendez Brothers joined a status hearing Monday in Van Nuys from the San Diego area prison where they are serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. They tried to join by video, but encountered technical issues and had to listen in over the phone ... but never spoke.

Still, it was their first time in court in decades.

The Menendez Brothers are taking their first big step toward possibly getting out of prison ... and their family is feeling good about their chances ahead of Monday's hearing.

We caught up with Bryan Freedman, the attorney representing Erik and Lyle Menendez's family, this morning outside the Van Nuys Courthouse, where he expressed optimism regarding their case ... teasing "some developments" are likely to come through after the controversial siblings appear, by Zoom, in court.

Watch the video, Freedman made it clear he was "feeling good," confidently predicting "success" for Erik and Lyle in their bid for release.

Special counsel Jack Smith is moving to dismiss his federal election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump over the January 6th Capitol riot.

In new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Smith asks U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to throw out the case against Trump before he's inaugurated.

Smith says there's a long-standing Justice Department policy forbidding prosecution of a sitting president.

Dan Schneider just scored a legal victory in court ... with a judge saying his defamation suit against the producers of "Quiet on Set" can move forward.

Dan claims the folks behind the explosive documentary defamed him by falsely implying he was a child sexual abuser at Nickelodeon ... and a judge just ruled Dan's case can proceed.

The former TV exec filed suit against Warner Bros. Discovery and Sony Pictures Television, among others, back in May after the documentary was released ... but Warner Bros. and Sony tried to get the suit thrown out ... arguing the film did not actually accuse Dan of sexual abuse.

Alec Baldwin is ready to leave the "Rust" film in his rearview ... admitting he's yet to see a final cut of the flick in the 3 years since tragedy struck the Western drama.

The actor admitted this to be true while attending the Torino Film Festival, where the actor remerged to receive an honor after his manslaughter case was dismissed this summer.

At the festival, Alec sat down with Variety and shut down notions that he profited from "Rust."

Nikki Bella is looking for a fresh start after settling her divorce from Artem Chigvintsev ... wiping every photo from her Instagram account in the aftermath of her split.

Check it out ... Nikki, who is also known as Nikki Garcia, left fans shocked when her Instagram feed featured 0 posts -- wiping away not only the existence of the "Dancing With the Stars" alum, but the last several years, too.

We're talking no photos of her and her sister, Brie Bella, no cute pics of son Matteo Chigvintsev, and not a single brand-sponsored post, either.

Liam Payne was trying to escape from his hotel when he fell to his death, and the hotel knew he was threatening to use the balcony as the means to escape, but left him by himself ... this according to witnesses, the police report, a 911 call and surveillance video.

Here's what we know. Liam hated being locked up in hotel rooms ... something he had to deal with during his time in One Direction. He had used the balcony escape plan before, most recently in mid-September, when sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Liam's bodyguard was concerned he might have been on a drug binge and forced him inside a room in a Florida rental house. Liam escaped from a balcony, using a garden hose to reach the ground.

Look at the surveillance screenshots from the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires. Liam, who was disruptive in the lobby and clearly under the influence, is splayed out as 3 hotel workers carry him to his room, minutes before he fell to his death. Liam is clearly conscious -- although we blurred his face, he is holding his head upright.

Lyle Menendez has a major life update to share that has nothing to do with his possible release from prison ... his wife, Rebecca Sneed, has confirmed their separation.

Rebecca, who married Lyle in 2003, posted the relationship update on her husband's Facebook account Friday, sharing she and Lyle had been "separated for a while now."

However, she made it clear there's no bad blood between her and Lyle, clarifying their split was not prompted by "a cheating scandal" and "remain best friends and family."

The developers of the super popular "Hitman" video game franchise are severing ties with Conor McGregor in wake of his civil assault case loss last week.

IO Interactive -- which put the controversial UFC superstar in its "Hitman" universe via an update earlier this year -- wrote in a post on X that it will begin removing all of its McGregor-related content this week.

"In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor," "Hitman" officials said, "IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately."

Robert Vito -- best known for his role in a "Spy Kids" movie and other early 2000s shows -- won't face any felony charges in his domestic violence case ... TMZ has learned.

We're told the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office decided to hand off the case to the L.A. City Attorney’s Office for potential misdemeanor charges ... after finding it didn’t meet the threshold for a felony filing.

We broke the story first -- Robert was arrested earlier this month on a felony domestic violence charge after cops were called to an L.A.-area home over an alleged incident with his now ex-GF, Lindsey Jennings.

Influencer Julian Barboza has been arrested following an altercation with his girlfriend, TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ the Beverly Hills Police Department was called to a party around 2:00 AM earlier this month ... where Julian’s girlfriend met them outside and detailed what went down.

Cops say Julian and his girlfriend got into a verbal argument, and he asked her to leave the party. However, we're told things escalated when the GF started recording the argument on her phone, prompting Julian to allegedly grab it from her and throw it on the floor.

Conor McGregor didn't hold back Saturday morning ... just a day after he was found liable for assault in his civil rape case in Ireland.

CM first responded to an X post from the Irish Independent newspaper about the outcome of his case, which included the line, "Justice has been served."

The MMA star replied, "Justice was served for James Lawrence, yes! Deplorable what they done. Nikita hand, vicious liar! APPEAL!"