Judge Refuses LeAnn Rimes Request

NASHVILLE, Tenn. â€“ A judge has refused to let country singer LeAnn Rimes out of the recording contract he approved at the request of her and her parents in 1995 when she was 12.<br><br>"I hate you,"

Monday, March 19th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NASHVILLE, Tenn. â€“ A judge has refused to let country singer LeAnn Rimes out of the recording contract he approved at the request of her and her parents in 1995 when she was 12.

"I hate you," she said to her father, Wilbur Rimes, after Friday's ruling.

Ms. Rimes, a two-time Grammy winner from Garland, has sued her father in a Dallas court over another issue. In that case, she alleges he and a former co-manager cheated her of $7 million in earnings.

The singer's lawyers filed papers last month asking Davidson County Chancellor Irvin Kilcrease to set aside the order he signed July 5, 1995. That allowed her, even as a minor, to sign a long-term recording contract with Curb Records.

Ms. Rimes, who now lives in Los Angeles, issued a statement last month apologizing to her fans for her latest album, saying that it was produced by Nashville-based Curb Records without her "creative input."

Mr. Rimes said later Friday he was "very hurt, but confused" by his daughter's remark to him in court "because I had nothing to do with the proceeding." He said he was in court only as "an observer."

However, he added, "I'm very pleased with the judge's decision because I feel very strongly that this contract is a very good contract, and she should be made to honor her word, rather than to be able to wriggle out of it simply because she has the star power to force them into a different position."

Ms. Rimes sat between her lawyers at the counsel table during the 80-minute hearing. Afterward, she left the courtroom with her mother and her boyfriend, actor Andrew Keegan.