A Cook County judge has ruled that Chance the Rapper's former manager, Pat Corcoran, breached his fiduciary duty in Chance's merchandise business. In a 28-page decision dated October 13, 2026, Judge James E. Hanlon Jr. ordered Corcoran to give up commissions he took from Chance's merch vendors and the 15% management fee on that business, and to hand over the ChanceRaps.com domain within 14 days.
The ruling closes the last open claim in a fight that started in November 2020, when Corcoran's company, Pat The Manager LLC, sued for unpaid commissions. Corcoran managed Chance (legal name Chancelor Bennett) from 2012 until he was fired on April 27, 2020. Chance countersued in February 2021.
How did a $3.8 million claim turn into this?
Corcoran's case rested on a handshake. He said that in 2013 the two agreed orally on 15% of net profits across music, touring and merch, plus a sunset clause paying him for three years after any termination. Chance's side said no written contract existed and no document supported a sunset provision. Chance testified that the deal was informal: “We never discussed the sunset clause, we just discussed how I'd pay him.”
On March 20, 2026, a Chicago jury rejected Corcoran's $3.8 million claim, roughly $1.6 million of it under the claimed sunset clause. On Chance's countersuit, jurors found tortious interference and breach of contract but awarded him $35, and recommended the domain transfer. The fiduciary duty claim, by law, went to the judge, who heard more evidence in a non-jury proceeding in May.
We respect the jury's decision, but the message to music managers is clear: Get it in writing.Jay Scharkey, Corcoran's attorney, after the March verdict (via TheGrio)
What did the judge decide in October?
Judge Hanlon found that Corcoran's merchandise company took commissions from the vendors filling Chance's merch orders, which the judge called a secret profit, earned on top of the 15% fee Corcoran already earned on that same business. “Corcoran was Bennett's agent and fiduciary,” the judge wrote, as quoted by Rolling Stone. “In that sphere he owed loyalty and disclosure, and the rules about secret profits and conflicting interests apply.”
It was not a clean sweep. The judge rejected punitive damages and refused to strip Corcoran of all his pay, which topped $10 million across Chance's music, touring and merch businesses. He also found Corcoran did not owe Chance “the first right of refusal on every investment that came across his desk.” A Corcoran spokesperson told Rolling Stone: “The court ruled there is no basis for Chance's claim of more than $10 million in damages.”
Why do these fights land on merch?
Merch is the income stream with the most hands in it. A merch line runs through printers, blank suppliers, fulfillment houses and web stores, and every one of those vendor relationships is a place where a fee can sit unseen. A manager who picks the vendor and is also paid by the vendor is being paid twice, by both sides of the same order. That is the conflict the court found here. The ChanceRaps.com domain stayed registered in Corcoran's own name from 2013 until this ruling.
The question is not only what your manager earns. It is who else is paying your manager.
What should a first management deal say?
Music lawyer Erin M. Jacobson writes that sunset clauses are standard and “not unfair in itself”, but warns they are often written at the full 15 to 20% rate and “in perpetuity, which means forever.” She advises negotiating both down, often to a taper that ends. For an independent artist signing a first deal, the Chance case adds a short list:
- Write it down. Both sides spent five years in court over an unwritten 2013 deal.
- Define the sunset: which deals it covers, at what rate, for how long.
- Ban side payments: the manager discloses any fee from a vendor, promoter or partner, and it is credited back to you.
- Own your storefront: domains, store accounts and merch entities in your name, not your manager's.
Some artists skip the question entirely; Dutch Melrose manages himself and hires day-to-day help as an employee. For everyone else, this ruling sits beside Summer Walker's fight with Interscope and the questions in who owns the masters at Gunna's SB THE LABEL: the paper you sign early decides who gets paid late. The final amount Corcoran owes still has to be worked out.