French Montana rushed to court this week to fight a $402,000 default judgment entered against him over an alleged vicious dog attack, In Touch can exclusively report.

French, who recently released a song with Lara Trump, asked a judge to vacate the order awarding Jason Leyva the six-figure sum.

As In Touch first reported, back in October 2024, the court awarded Jason $400,225 for damages and another $2,419 for additional costs. Jason was seeking $2.3 million in damages.

In his lawsuit filed in 2021, Jason claimed he was hired to perform landscaping services at French’s Los Angeles home, when he was attacked by a dog at the home.

The suit read, “On November 3, 2019, Defendants and each of them were aware that the Dog was outside its cage and, carelessly and without regard to the safety and wellbeing of invitees such as [Jason], allowed the Dog, with known and foreseeable vicious propensities and physiognomies, to roam freely, uncaged and unsecured.”

“Defendants failed to have the dog under restraint or to take any other precautions to prevent the dog from attacking [Jason] or other persons or to warn invitees of the danger posed by the Dog,” the suit continued. “This careless action created a known and foreseeable dangerous condition within the premises.”

French had not responded to the lawsuit until this month.

The rapper argued that the default judgment entered “in this matter was the result of excusable neglect.” The musician said Jason was allowed to serve him via an alternative method. The court said Jason could place an advertisement in a L.A. paper due to him being unable to serve French personally.

In his new motion, French’s lawyer said, “At the time of the alleged publication, [French] was not living in California, having moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in or about September 2019. Accordingly, he was not aware of this lawsuit or any attempts to serve him with this lawsuit.”

He added, “Moreover, Defendants was not expecting to be sued by [Jason] for the alleged dog bite because Defendants had entered into a settlement agreement with [Jason] resolving all claims arising from the alleged dog bite in or about August 2020, more than one year prior to the filing of the present Complaint.”

French’s lawyer noted, “As a result, Defendants believed that the settlement resolved this matter and no litigation would be forthcoming. Accordingly, the default judgment was the result of mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect.”

French said he immediately hired a lawyer after learning about the lawsuit and default judgment. French’s lawyer contacted Jason’s lawyer to ask about the settlement agreement signed in 2020.

“[Jason’s] counsel responded that Defendants’ counsel was the victim of a ruse and suggested that the Settlement Agreement was a sham and thus counsel for defendants should investigate the matter further,” the motion read. French’s lawyer said he investigated and determined the settlement was valid.

The rapper asked the court to vacate the default and allow him time to argue his case in court.

Last month, French released a duet with Donald Trump‘s daughter-in-law called “No Days Off.” The collaboration confused many who did not expect the two to work together.