There has been a legal victory of sorts for P. Diddy.
A New York Court of Appeals has ordered the hip-hop mogul otherwise known as Sean Combs to cough up $21,782 a month in child support to fashion stylist Misa Hylton-Brim, the mother of his 11-year-old son.
The good news is the amount settled on by the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division on Thursday is significantly lower than the $35,000-per-month sum Combs was initially required to pay by Westchester County Family Court Judge David Klein last August.
Klein declared Combs also pony up $398,000 in arrears, including all educational and medical expenses, maintain a life-insurance policy and fork over $60,000 in legal fees to Hylton-Brim's lawyer, Brett Kimmel. The extra money was needed, according to his ex-gal-pal, to pay for such everyday expenses as a full-time nanny, private-school tuition and clothing expenses for the youngster.
The judge apparently agreed after looking at the rap impresario's 2002 federal tax return and determining Diddy was more like Daddy Warbucks, having taken home $16 million in earnings for that year.
(Hylton-Brim's not exactly in the poorhouse either, making $400,000 a year as the stylist for fellow hip-hopsters Mary J. Blige and Lil' Kim).
Klein also based his $35,000 figure on the more than $30,000 a month the rap tycoon was already shelling out in child support to model Kim Porter for a second child, Christian Casey Combs.
But that didn't go over too well with the appellate panel, which cited that method of calculation as the reason it decided to slash the payments.
"The Support Magistrate erred in basing the award in part on the amount of child support the father paid for his other child by another woman," the court stated in its ruling.
Despite the reduction, yesterday's ruling was still a big win for Hylton-Brim, who beforehand was only receiving $5,000 a month from Combs.
Kimmel could not be reached for comment, but he told the New York Post that he's satisfied with the decision.
"This award provides for the child's expenses, and that's all she ever wanted," Kimmel told the New York Post.
A rep for Combs said the Puffster planned to file an appeal with the state Court of Appeals.