You won't believe how Anita Baker found out about her arrest warrant!
While news broke yesterday of an arrest warrant being issued for Anita Baker, the Grammy-winning singer seemed to be the last to find out.
Baker tells The Insider's Kevin Frazier that she feels as if she's being terrorized, like it's "almost a form of extortion."
"It's sinister and I don't know how to handle sinister," she tells Frazier.
The Associated Press reports that a Michigan judge issued the arrest warrant after the Sweet Love singer failed to appear in court. According to the news source, Ray A. Smith Painting & Decorating company is suing Baker, 56, claiming that she owes the company $15,000 for renovations to her Detroit-area home.
Today, Baker spoke with Kevin Frazier, claiming that she learned about the new lawsuit via news reports, as no one successfully contacted her about the current judgment. Baker went on to claim that although the company is suing her for $15,000, she's already paid them $60,000 for a job that she had to complete herself.
According to Baker, she had water damage in her house and hired the company for drywall repair, paying them a $60,000 insurance claim upfront. Baker told Frazier that after the job was done, she found their work unsatisfactory and asked Ray Smith to come back out to redo a portion of the job. When Ray Smith refused to do so, Baker claims that she finished the job herself.
In September 2010, Ray Smith filed a lawsuit against Baker, but when her lawyer threatened to counter sue the suit was dropped. She thought the matter was over. In 2011, they filed again but this time did not notify Baker or her lawyer and she was never served. They obtained a "default judgment" and waited three years before requesting a "creditor's exam" as a means of collecting the Judgment, but again did not serve Ms. Baker. Instead, they then went back to the court and said that they tried to serve her several times but could never find Baker, so the court issued a substituted service, which allowed them to just post the new lawsuit on her door. They filed this latest motion when she was once again out of town.
Baker has kept busy with tours since her children have become adults and are out of the house. She has a new album coming soon.
Baker's attorney Jamal Hamood told the AP that he plans to file a motion to cancel the warrant.
