(EXCLUSIVE) Gladys Knight’s Son Pleads With Judge To Continue Lawsuit Against Mother

Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight’s Son Wants To Continue Lawsuit

theJasmineBRAND.com exclusively reports, Gladys Knight’s son has returned to court in their nasty family legal battle over his chicken and waffle restaurants. He is pleading for the judge to allow him to continue on with his case against his famous mother and blasting the singer for trying to win the case on a technicality.

Here’s the latest: On November 7th, Shanga returned to court blasting his famous mother and her actions toward him. He explains his mother has yet to serve him with the legal papers and therefore it should not be a question about setting aside the default that was entered previously, claiming she won’t be harmed in having to continue on with this legal battle.

Shanga believes he has a case against his mom due to her being a partner in the business and granting him the exclusive license to use her name and likeness and providing memorabilia in the restaurants.
Back in July, he admits Knight wanted to terminate the license deal but accuses her of breaching the requirements for termination or revocation of the license per their written agreement.

He claims she orally allowed the deal to extend the license contract through March 2019. He points out to a media interview she gave around the time in which she called the chain “our” restaurants.

Over the years he says she has provided a cash infusion, done promotional work, marketing, galas, interviews and visits to the restaurants.

He adds once again,

Plaintiff’s claims are barred, in whole or in part, lack of mental capacity to rescind the license agreement granted to defendants.

Shanga is demanding the judge not allow his mother to win this case on a technicality – due to him filing his response past the deadline – and is pleading for the case to continue on, one that he believes he will win against his mother.

Shanga Hankerson

Here’s the backstory: Back in June, the Department of Revenue accused the Gladys Knight’s son, Shanga Hankerson, of theft and tax evasion. Federal agents raided 3 “Gladys Knight Chicken and Waffles” locations in Georgia and shut down their operations.

The officials allege Shanga of stealing over $650,000 in sales taxes and withholding taxes owed to the state. The total with penalties and interest exceeds $1 million dollars.

Gladys had no role in the business and only allowed her son to use her name. Reportedly there were still 2 locations open in the ATL area.

The singer sued her son and his companies Rival Group, Cascade Foods and Granite Foods following the tax evasion allegations. She claimed to have sent a cease and desist in July but her son has yet to remove her name from the restaurants.

Gladys allowed her son to use her name for over 10 years, but the deal recently expired and she wants nothing to do with the business. She filed the lawsuit demanding the judge order her name be removed from all the restaurants ASAP.

Then on September 22nd, Gladys’ son Shanga went to court demanding his mother’s lawsuit be thrown out of court.

He explained,

Plaintiff’s claims are barred, in whole or in part, lack of mental capacity to rescind the license agreement granted to Defendants.

Shanga claimed that his mother’s claims were barred due to her breach of contract and said her lawsuit was a violation of a state court order. He also claims she has been paid for the use of her name on his restaurants and cannot void their deal due to payment.

Gladys Knight

Gladys son denied all the allegations of wrongdoing by his mother over his restaurant and demanded her entire lawsuit be thrown out and his mother pay all the court costs.

The legendary singer responded and accused her son of attempting to blackmail her with her private medical records.

She filed docs explaining the judge granted her a default against Shanga, due to him not filing his response in time. However, her lawyer was contacted by her son’s attorney and allegedly threatened to reveal Gladys was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

She was furious with her son trying to embarrass and harass her by concocting a lie about her mental state. The singer denied the allegations she had Alzheimer’s and demanded the default stay put, which would allow her to continue on by seeking a default judgement against her son.
Later, Gladys returned to court demanding the default NOT be vacated and pointed out that her son’s chain of restaurants bearing her name are ruining her reputation.

The singer pointed out to recent report by an Atlanta based outlet that revealed the restaurant was under a health investigation after receiving a “U” grade by the health inspection.

The restaurant received a grade of 44 out of 100 on October 6th and the score was posted to the Fulton County Department of Public Health on their website.

Knight explains she doesn’t want any negative association with her name related to such news reports believing it will tarnish her good reputation. She demanded the default the court awarded not be vacated despite her son’s demands and she be allowed to move forward in the case to obtain a default judgement against her son.

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