Megan Thee Stallion just cleared a major legal hurdle in her effort to collect the $75,000 judgment she won against online commentator Milagro Cooper. In an order entered September 11, Chief U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga granted Megan Pete’s motion to register the amended final judgment in the Southern District of Texas. The Milagro Gramz judgment was originally entered in federal court in South Florida, but the new order allows Megan to take that judgment into the federal district covering the state where Cooper has identified herself in court filings as a resident. A 2024 filing in the case lists Cooper as a Texas resident.
That matters because registration is an enforcement tool, not another trial over whether Cooper owes the money. According to Section 1963 of the U.S. Code, a federal money judgment can be registered in another federal district after it becomes final on appeal or earlier when the court that entered it authorizes registration for good cause. Once registered, federal law says the judgment carries the same effect as a judgment entered by the district where it is registered and can be enforced in the same manner.
In practical terms, Megan can now pursue legally available post-judgment collection procedures in Texas instead of being limited to enforcement efforts tied to Florida. Her motion identified Texas accounts and income streams as possible sources of recovery. The September 11 order does not itself freeze an account, transfer money to Megan or establish that every asset identified by her attorneys can legally be reached. Those collection efforts still require the proper procedures and remain subject to any applicable protections or objections.
The latest development is another chapter in a case that began nearly two years ago. According to the Southern District of Florida docket, Megan filed her lawsuit against Cooper on October 29, 2024. Megan accused Cooper, known online as Milagro Gramz, of spreading false claims about her and promoting an altered sexual video that purported to depict the rapper. The lawsuit also accused Cooper of acting in coordination with people connected to Tory Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson.
The case became especially contentious during discovery. In an October 2025 order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid granted Megan’s request for sanctions over destroyed electronic evidence. According to the court’s spoliation order, Cooper had been formally notified of her obligation to preserve relevant evidence when the lawsuit was filed, but thousands of text messages were deleted and WhatsApp was removed from her phone. Reid authorized an adverse inference instruction for the jury and ordered monetary sanctions tied to Megan’s costs in raising the issue.
The case went to trial in Miami in November 2025. On December 1, the jury found Cooper liable for defamation per se, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and promotion of an altered sexual depiction. According to CBS Miami and the federal verdict record, jurors awarded Megan a total of $75,000. The award included damages tied to all three claims.
The Milagro Gramz judgment did not remain at $75,000 immediately after trial. Because the jury also concluded Cooper qualified as a media defendant, Altonaga initially declined to enter judgment on the defamation count. Florida law provides certain media defendants with a pre suit notice protection, and Megan had not provided that notice. According to ABC News, eliminating the defamation portion dropped the entered judgment from $75,000 to $59,000.
That changed on May 29, 2026. Altonaga revisited the issue and reinstated the defamation portion of the verdict, bringing the amended final judgment back to the full $75,000 awarded by the jury. The judge concluded the trial record showed Cooper was acting on behalf of Lanez and members of his family when she made the three statements the jury found defamatory. The court determined that Cooper was therefore not entitled to the media defendant notice protection for those specific statements.
Megan did not receive every form of relief she requested. In April, Altonaga rejected her request for a permanent injunction that would have restricted future statements and certain online conduct by Cooper. Reporting from Legal Affairs and Trials shows the court found the proposed restrictions did not satisfy the requirements for the permanent relief Megan sought.
Cooper has also continued challenging the outcome through the appellate process. The Eleventh Circuit docket shows an appeal was opened in January 2026 and an amended notice of appeal was filed in July. A second appellate case was opened on August 20 following another notice of appeal filed by Cooper.
Those challenges are important because the $75,000 amended judgment is still being contested. But the September 11 ruling means the existence of an appeal does not currently prevent Megan from registering the judgment in Texas.
That is what makes this order more significant than another procedural filing. Megan already has the jury verdict and the amended $75,000 judgment. Now she has authorization to bring the Milagro Gramz judgment into the Southern District of Texas and pursue whatever collection procedures are legally available there.
Whether those efforts ultimately produce the full $75,000 will depend on what assets can lawfully be reached and what further challenges Cooper raises. For now, however, the Florida judgment is no longer confined to Florida for enforcement purposes, giving Megan a direct route to pursue collection in the federal district tied to Cooper’s home state.
