The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico dealt a judicial blow to Bad Bunny by rejecting his legal team's attempts to dismiss the lawsuit filed by his ex-girlfriend, attorney Carliz de la Cruz Hernández, who is claiming compensation of at least 40 million dollars for the unauthorized use of her voice in two of his most successful songs.
According to local sources, the highest court in Puerto Rico determined that the lawsuit "presented plausible facts regarding the existence of an original and creative work," which requires the process to continue in the Court of First Instance in San Juan.
The ruling, issued on July 8 in a 50-page opinion, does not mean that Carliz has won the case definitively, but it does represent a significant setback for the singer: the court refused to dismiss it and ordered a thorough evaluation of the merits of the claim.
The story behind this dispute dates back to 2015, when Carliz and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio —the artist's real name— were still a couple. According to the court documents, they agreed that incorporating the phrase "Bad Bunny baby," recorded in her voice, would add originality to the artistic identity he was building. Carliz recorded it from her cellphone at the singer's request.
That recording ended up becoming one of the most recognizable trademarks of his career: it appeared in "Pa' ti" (2017), a collaboration with Bryant Myers and the first song that Bad Bunny recorded for Rimas Entertainment, and years later it resurfaced in "Dos mil 16," included in the album Un verano sin ti (2022). The plaintiff also claims that her voice was used as an introduction in the artist's concerts in Puerto Rico, the United States, and the Dominican Republic, without any written authorization.
The breaking point came on May 5, 2022, a day before the release of Un verano sin ti: representatives of the singer contacted Carliz and offered her only 2,000 dollars for the rights to the phrase. No agreement was reached, but the album was published the next day with her voice included. The court record describes it straightforwardly: "The album that contained the plaintiff's voice was published and sold regardless of whether she consented to the use of her voice or not, that is, her identity."
Carliz, now a notary lawyer, filed the lawsuit in March 2023 before the Court of First Instance in San Juan against Bad Bunny, his manager Noah Kamil Assad Byrne, and the record labels Rimas Entertainment and Rimas Classics. The breakdown of her claims includes five million dollars for each violation of attribution rights, five million for each violation of integrity rights, and similar amounts for damages, unjust enrichment, violation of image rights, and damages arising from the concerts in Puerto Rico.
The ruling of the Supreme Court has a significant nuance: the claim related to "Pa' ti" was declared time-barred, as the legal time limit to sue for that song had already expired. However, the claims related to "Dos mil 16" and the use of his image in concerts remain fully active. Carliz and Benito met in 2011 while working together at the Econo supermarket in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, before he achieved worldwide fame, and their relationship lasted until 2016. Bad Bunny has not publicly commented on the court's decision.
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