{"id":11128,"date":"2026-07-13T06:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/sam-smith-normani-ask-to-dismiss-dancing-with-a-stranger-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T06:50:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:50:00","slug":"sam-smith-normani-ask-to-dismiss-dancing-with-a-stranger-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/sam-smith-normani-ask-to-dismiss-dancing-with-a-stranger-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Smith & Normani Ask to Dismiss \u2018Dancing With a Stranger\u2019 Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tSam Smith and Normani are once again seeking to throw out a lawsuit that claims their 2019 hit \u201cDancing With a Stranger\u201d stole its hook from an earlier song.<\/p>\n

\n\tLawyers for Smith, Normani and a collection of co-writers and publishers filed a so-called summary judgment motion on Tuesday (July 7) urging a judge to end the copyright claims without a trial. The 2022 lawsuit alleges \u201cDancing With a Stranger,\u201d which hit No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 45 weeks on the chart, infringes the 2015 song \u201cDancing With Strangers\u201d by an artist named Jordan Vincent.<\/p>\n

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\n\tA federal judge previously dismissed the case in 2023, but an appeals court revived it last year after determining that there\u2019s a legitimate dispute as to whether the two songs have \u201csubstantially similar\u201d hooks built around the phrase \u201cdancing with a stranger.\u201d This triggered a second phase of the litigation focused on whether there\u2019s evidence that Smith and Normani copied Vincent.<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing the discovery process, Vincent has conceded that there\u2019s no evidence showing that the \u201cDancing With a Stranger\u201d songwriting team ever heard \u201cDancing With Strangers.\u201d This means that to win the case at trial, Vincent would have to prove the two songs are \u201cstrikingly similar\u201d \u2014 that is, nearly identical to a degree that copying is the only logical explanation.<\/p>\n

\n\tSmith and Normani\u2019s lawyers argue in Tuesday\u2019s motion that Vincent \u201cdoes not come close to meeting that demanding standard.\u201d They say the two works share only \u201cmeager\u201d similarities that were \u201cfreely floating in popular music\u201d before 2015, including in the 1989 Cyndi Lauper song \u201cDancing With a Stranger\u201d and the 1997 Regina track \u201cDancing With an Angel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe similarities amount to a four-word phrase, \u2018dancing with a stranger\u2019 \u2014 which has appeared in more than fifteen songs before plaintiff\u2019s song \u2014 and some unprotected pitches and rhythms in each song\u2019s otherwise different melodies to which that phrase is sung,\u201d write Smith and Normani\u2019s lawyers from powerhouse media litigation firm Davis Wright Tremaine. \u201cThese similarities are not unique or so complex as to render coincidence virtually impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Davis Wright attorneys also say in the motion that they\u2019ve recently discovered another \u201cindependent, fatal defect\u201d in the lawsuit: Vincent\u2019s \u201cDancing With Strangers\u201d actually sampled two earlier tracks without licenses, \u201cThe Ha Dance\u201d by Masters at Work and \u201cThink (About It)\u201d by Lyn Collins, rendering Vincent\u2019s copyright invalid.<\/p>\n

\n\tTuesday\u2019s brief includes a section from Vincent\u2019s lawyer, AJ Fluehr<\/strong> of Francis Alexander LLC, opposing Smith and Norman\u2019s summary judgment motion. Fluehr argues that there is genuine evidence of striking similarity to justify holding a jury trial, including that the two hooks share \u201cvirtually identical\u201d pitch sequences and \u201cnearly identical\u201d melodic contours on top of the same lyrical phrasing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are no works\u2026in [the] history of the world which have anything close to the selection and arrangement shared by both [songs],\u201d reads Fluehr\u2019s response. \u201cIt is not an accident that this rare bit of expression appears in both songs in virtually identical aesthetic contexts for the first time in history a couple months apart; it is a fingerprint linking them\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFluehr says in his section of the brief that the issue of sampling is \u201cfrivolous\u201d and irrelevant to the case. He also points out that in 2015, Smith gave post-release writing credit to Tom Petty due to claims that his 2014 hit \u201cStay With Me\u201d sounded similar to \u201cWon\u2019t Back Down.\u201d Fluehr says this is \u201ca further indication that defendants\u2019 songwriting process is not independent, and does at times use other works.\u201d Smith\u2019s attorneys call that suggestion \u201coutlandish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a Wednesday (July 8) statement to Billboard<\/em>, Fluehr said, \u201cMy client\u2019s hook is unique in the history of music and, as our experts explain, it is not a coincidence that defendants\u2019 song with essentially the same hook was created shortly later. We look forward to arguing our case before the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSmith and Normani\u2019s legal team did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tA federal judge is set to consider the summary judgment motion at an August hearing in Los Angeles. He\u2019ll then decide whether to shut down the case or send it to trial. There\u2019s also still the possibility the claims could get resolved via settlement. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story was updated on July 8 at 5:38 p.m. ET to add a statement from Fluehr.<\/em><\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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