Andra Day scored a key legal victory Thursday in her $1.6 million fight with her former manager, getting a green light to proceed with claims the manager wrongfully pocketed $575,486 from her publishing and master recording revenue.
In a four-page ruling obtained by Rolling Stone, a Los Angeles County judge sided with the Grammy-winning singer, denying former manager Jeffrey Evans’ bid to toss the central “civil theft” claim in her breach of contract lawsuit. The judge said Day “sufficiently” pled the allegation, so it would survive. He also shot down Evans’ bid to block triple damages, finding the manager failed to show Day waited too long to seek triple recovery.
“This is a significant win for Ms. Day. It ensures that her civil theft claim will move forward and that the handling of her income will be subject to scrutiny in court,” Day’s lawyers, James Sammataro and Benjamin Akley, tell Rolling Stone. (Evans’ lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
Day filed her lawsuit on Oct. 7, 2025, about six months after her lawyers sent Evans and his companies, BassLine Management and Buskin Entertainment, a letter claiming they owed Day at least $1.6 million in “stolen funds.” Day alleges the contracts she signed with Evans were “exploitative” and that their management agreement expired on June 30, 2023.
For his part, Evans filed his own lawsuit on Oct. 6, 2025, beating the “Rise Up” singer to the courthouse. In the complaint, he claims he retains the right to commissions on recordings and compositions Day created before a 2018 revision to their contract. He claims Day signed a 2024 publishing deal with Kobalt that’s paid her more than $1 million, and that she allegedly stiffed him on his 40 percent cut. Pointing to that payout, he says Day has already “recouped all monies owed” and now owes him unpaid commissions and royalties topping $850,000.
In his ruling issued Thursday, Los Angeles County Judge Andrew Esbenshade noted that Evans admitted in a December court filing that his companies “mistakenly withheld” the $575,486 in funds due to Day and had agreed to return the money. The judge ruled that at this early stage in the case, Day made a viable claim that Evans had planned to permanently deprive her of the money.
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In her lawsuit, Day claimed that Evans only admitted the alleged theft when he was “caught red-handed.” The complaint accused Evans of failing to collect and segregate Day’s publishing income in a separate account, “extravagantly traveling on Day’s dime,” and putting “greed” over the client he was hired to protect.
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“He siphoned so much money from Day – a quadruple-platinum hitmaker and Golden Globe Best Actress winner – that he left her facing eviction, unable to pay the monthly minimum on her credit card debt, and without sufficient funds to tour,” her lawsuit claims. By the time a new attorney started to investigate the situation in 2023, Day alleges, she “was in financial ruins, unable to pay the minimum on her $300,000-plus credit card debt, and on the verge of being evicted.”
The two lawsuits are now consolidated under Judge Esbenshade in downtown Los Angeles. A trial-setting conference is set for June 25.
