Summer Walker Invoked California’s Seven-Year Rule. Interscope Wants $50 Million

Summer Walker has made three albums called some version of Over It. Her label says she isn’t done yet.

Interscope Records sued the R&B singer on Friday (Oct. 9) in Los Angeles County Superior Court, asking for damages of at least $50 million after she moved to walk away from the deal she signed in 2017. The seven-page complaint was first reported by Billboard and also obtained by Rolling Stone.

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It started with a letter. In August, Walker told the label she would stop working under the agreement as of Aug. 27, invoking California’s seven-year rule, the 1944 law that lets people leave a personal-services contract after seven years. The label’s answer is that leaving doesn’t erase what she still owes: two studio albums and an EP.

UMG is entitled to recover damages in excess of $50,000,000 for the undelivered recordings.

Interscope’s complaint, Rolling Stone

By the label’s count, her contract called for five studio albums and she has delivered three: 2019’s Over It, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, 2021’s chart-topping Still Over It and 2025’s Finally Over It, another No. 2. Her earlier releases, Last Day of Summer and CLEAR, were classed as “pre-album projects” that don’t count toward the total.

The case is a live test of one of the music business’s most argued-over laws. California amended the seven-year rule in 1987 so labels can sue artists who leave before delivering every album they promised, and a label gets 45 days from a termination notice to do it. Interscope filed near the end of that window. Billboard notes the same move has been used before: Warner Bros. Records against Avenged Sevenfold in 2016, and MCA against New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe in the 1990s. Repeated efforts in the California legislature to repeal the 1987 amendment have failed. The same law is at the heart of Fuerza Regida’s fight with Rancho Humilde.

Walker’s deal has been a cautionary tale for years. In 2021, managers and lawyers who reviewed a draft for Rolling Stone called its terms “brutal”. The final contract, which the magazine also obtained, gave her an initial advance of $110,000 and a 16 percent royalty on her first two albums, paid only once she recouped.

Interscope says the deadline forced its hand. “While we remain hopeful that our ongoing discussions will lead to an amicable resolution, the statutory deadline makes it necessary to file suit in order to preserve the terms of our contract,” a spokesperson told Billboard, adding that the label “would welcome the opportunity to continue our successful partnership.”

Walker’s side is preparing for a fight. Her attorney, Keith Moten, told Rolling Stone that she plans to countersue.

While we are disappointed that Interscope has chosen to pursue litigation, we are confident in Summer’s legal position and her right to challenge the continued enforceability of her recording contract with Interscope.

Keith Moten, Walker’s attorney, Rolling Stone

The $50 million is a claim, not a judgment. The complaint asks for damages to be set at trial, plus prejudgment interest and legal costs, and both sides say a deal is still possible. Moten said Walker “remains open to a constructive resolution” and hopes to avoid “unnecessary or prolonged litigation.”