T.I. Reality Show Airs Dead Man's Body, Viacom Forced To Pay Millions

Viacom picked up a large tab after a reality show about rapper T.I. aired a dead body.

According to Billboard, Viacom had to spend millions of dollars after the MTV reality series, T.I's Road to Redemption, showed a dead man's body.

The body appeared during the show's premiere episode titled "You Are Responsible for Your Own Actions."

The magazine's site reports the show followed the Atlanta emcee as he awaited sentencing on weapons possession. He attempted to counsel troubled youth while dealing with his own legal troubles.

In this particular episode, T.I. visits a funeral home, where he saw the body of Joseph Williams. The mortician said was a "hustler" and his parents didn't know how he died.

Williams' family sued.

The family sued under claims of invasion of privacy, negligent misrepresentations about the decedent, violation of likeness, although Williams' face was reportedly shown out of focus, and interference with the family's contract with the funeral home.

The funeral home reportedly paid to have the body cremated.

Viacom has filed a lawsuit against AXIS Insurance. Viacom does not believe it's financially responsible for what happened and has taken the insurance company to court to get the firm to reimburse its legal costs and reach a settlement.

After a mediation in June, Viacom came into an opportunity to settle the case "for an amount that, even after deducting from the $5 million policy limit the extensive defense costs incurred during more than three years of litigation, was within the $5 million policy limit of the Insurance Policy."

However, AXIS only believes it's responsible for $3 million.

A single word, "occurrence," is at the root of the dispute.

While the insurance policy had a total limit of $5 million, it also had a limitation of $3 million for "Each Loss," which is defined in the policy as "all Damages and Claim Expense arising out of an Occurrence."

AXIS is arguing the incident was a single occurrence while Viacom states "the Decedent's Family alleged numerous separate acts, and thus numerous 'Occurrences,' that caused distinct losses."

Tags

T.I., MTV