Chris Perez Loses Appeal Case Against Selena Quintanilla’s Father

For the past couple of years musician Chris Perez has been in a legal battle with his former father-in-law, Abraham Quintanilla. At the core of the issue is Perez’s use of Selena Quintanilla’s name, voice, and image. In 2012, Perez published “To Selena With Love” — a memoir about their relationship and their three year marriage, which tragically ended when she was killed.

Soon after Selena was killed, Abraham made the entire family, including Perez sign a legal form that stated Abraham would have exclusive rights to Selena’s name, voice, and image. Perez said he signed it but only because he was forced to. Despite that contract, Perez still published his book and though Abraham disapproved of the book he didn’t sue him for doing so.

That all changed when Perez announced he planned to do a TV series based on his book. Abraham sued Perez in 2016 and the two have been in legal disputes since. Perez claims that Abraham didn’t sue him when he wrote the book, which means he had every right to publish it, and somehow that should transfer over to his right to do the show. But a judge said that it doesn’t work that way.

Perez asked a judge to dismiss the case against him, but lost. He then appealed that decision and lost again, which means the case against Abraham and Perez will go on. The judge also ruled that Perez must pay Abraham’s legal fees. Abraham’s attorney’s say Perez breached his contract when he wrote the book and in his decision to make a TV series about it.

Pere’z lawyers say they are confident that in the end, the judge will rule in their favor and approve of the TV series. If approved, it would not be the first TV show based on Selena.

“Chris’s team is examining the decision handed down by the Appeals Court… and over the course of the next several days will be considering all of its options,” states Perez attorney Eric S. Medina, according to Forbes. “We remain confident that justice will be done in this matter.”