JA RULE - JA RULE IN COURT OVER CONTRACTOR ROW

Rapper JA RULE has returned to court for the second time in a week after he was accused of failing to pay a contractor $8,000 (GBP4,000). New Jersey contractor Joel Tobia claims he agreed to fix a bad leak at the hip-hop star's Saddle River mansion for a cost of $13,000 (GBP6,500). But Tobia told the Hackensack Municipal Court on Thursday, (09Aug07), the star - real name Jeffrey Atkins - only paid part of the bill. He says, "We put in 150 hours of manpower. He paid me $5,000 and wouldn't pay me the rest. I don't know why." Atkins' lawyer Brian Neary claimed the actual amount owed was $4,000 and that "there was a dispute as to whether the work was done properly and whether money is owed," reports AllHipHop.com. A hearing to determine whether there was probable cause for the complaint has been scheduled for next week (begs20Aug07). Last week, Atkins appeared in court to face criminal weapons possession charges after police found a semi-automatic handgun in his vehicle.