The first of the lawsuits filed over Madonna’s slack time-keeping has been dismissed. However, the lawyer representing the musician and her promoter Live Nation is keen to stress no settlement deal is behind the dismissal. It seems likely his clients will now seek to force the litigious concert-goers to cover their legal costs.
Madonna and Live Nation, states attorney Jeff Warshafsky in a letter to the court, “believe that this action was a frivolous strike suit designed to force them to incur legal expenses”. The other side has now “abandoned this lawsuit when it became clear that this approach would not result in a settlement payment and that they would need to oppose defendants’ motion to dismiss”.
Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden sued Madonna in January in relation to shows that took place in New York last December. They claimed that the concert was scheduled to start at 8.30pm but Madonna didn’t arrive on stage until after 10.30pm. That, they claimed, was a breach of contract and false advertising that caused them lots of inconvenience.
Two other lawsuits have since been filed by angry concert-goers pissed off at Madonna’s tendency to arrive on stage late. Madonna and Live Nation have been forthright in their responses, insisting that everybody knows that when a big pop star’s show has an 8.30pm start, that doesn’t mean the pop star is on stage at that time. And Madonna in particular is well known for performing late into the night.
Earlier this month Fellows and Hadden announced that they had reached a settlement with Madonna and Live Nation, and to that end they filed a notice of settlement with the court. However, Warshafsky insisted that, while there had been talks of a possible settlement, no such deal had been reached, and Fellows and Hadden had therefore filed a false statement.
The judge overseeing the case rejected the notice of settlement, meaning the concert-goers had until 1 Jul to respond to the motion for dismissal filed by the defendants.
Lawyers for Fellows and Hadden yesterday said they were dismissing the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning they will not be able to file any future litigation relating to this dispute. In his letter responding to that, Warshafsky added that his clients “reserve the right to move for sanctions, attorneys’ fees and costs” because of the false notice of settlement.