How Eminem beat the rap

A US judge used her own rap theme to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against rapper Eminem. In a footnote to her opinion Judge Deborah Servitto added a 10-stanza rhyme which ended: "It is therefore this court's ultimate position that Eminem is entitled to summary disposition."

A former schoolmate of Eminem's, DeAngelo Bailey, had claimed to the Michigan court that he was slandered in the 1999 song "Brain Damage". The lyrics include the phrase: "I was harassed daily by this fat kid named DeAngelo Bailey. An eighth-grader who acted obnoxious, 'cause his father boxes. So every day he'd shove me into the lockers."

Mr Bailey, 32, had sought $1m from Eminem. But in the judge's opinion Eminem's lyrics were "stories no one would take as fact, they're an exaggeration of a childish act". Hers is not the first rhyming judgment. Last year, the Supreme Court overruled a decision that a prenuptial agreement was void as the husband had misrepresented the engagement ring as a diamond.

Dissenting, Justice Michael Eakin said: "A groom must expect matrimonial pandemonium when his spouse finds he's given her a cubic zirconium, instead of a diamond in her engagement band, the one he said was worth 21 grand."