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Madonna goes legal over pants auction 

By | Published on Thursday 10 August 2017

Madonna

Madonna has gone fully legal over recent attempts by a former friend to auction off some of her belongings. The singer wants items that were sold returned and is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.

As previously reported, last month Madonna successfully blocked the sale of some of her former possessions – including a love letter from Tupac Shakur, an old hairbrush complete with hair, and a pair of the star’s pants – after the Gotta Have Rock And Roll auctions website announced a Madonna-themed sale.

The items were put up for auction by Darlene Lutz, a former friend of the pop star. When seeking the initial injunction, Madonna said that she had no idea that Lutz was still in possession of the items that were now being sold.

In the new lawsuit, filed yesterday, Madonna expands on how Lutz came to have the items at the heart of the dispute. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the legal filing says that Lutz was once a friend of Madonna and as such, “on several occasions, plaintiff welcomed defendant Lutz into her homes, including as a frequent overnight guest”.

Though it was probably a house move that led to Lutz having so much of Madonna’s stuff. “Defendant Lutz also assisted with the packing up of plaintiff’s former homes. Upon information and belief, defendant Lutz gained possession of certain of plaintiff’s belongings when they were sent to defendant Lutz’s storage facility in order to aid in facilitating the sale of plaintiff’s former residences at a time when plaintiff and defendant Lutz were friends and when defendant Lutz performed professional art consulting services for plaintiff”.

Madonna and Lutz fell out in 2004, and the former says that she was unaware that the latter still had some of her belongings after that falling out. Right up until last month’s auction was announced.

Although Madonna managed to get a speedy injunction blocking some of the items in the Gotta Have Rock And Roll auction from being sold, others were duly auctioned off, while Lutz’s lawyers vowed to appeal said injunction.

Through the new lawsuit, Madonna wants a new court order stopping the items that have been sold from being transferred to the winning bidders, as well as securing her full accounts relating to the auction, and ultimately the return of all the items put up for sale and some nice compensatory and punitive damages to boot.

Lawyers for Lutz maintain that their client was entitled to sell the items put up for auction, including those blocked by last month’s injunction. They also cite a 2004 legal settlement between Madonna and Lutz which, they argue, prevents the new litigation. Something the star’s legal team seem to deny.

We now await Lutz’s response to the new legal filing.



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