Opera star Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's pants trial is over, and she's successfully fought off the litigation brought against her, though the company who employs her will have to cover some of the claimant's costs.
As previously reported, this lawsuit was in relation to a proposed co-headline tour with John Farnham. Kanawa was due to tour with the Australian rock star in 2005 but pulled out of the venture, allegedly after watching a DVD of a Farnham gig and becoming concerned at the way his audience acted during his performance - and in particular the way they threw underwear at the singer.
The promoter of the proposed tour, Leading Edge Events, sued the singer and her management for A$2 million claiming it had lost money on the cost of publicity and ticket sales relating to the cancelled tour.
But New South Wales Supreme Court Judge Patricia Bergin, who heard the case, ruled that while the costs Leading Edge alluded to had been discussed in emails between them and Kanawa's people, neither the singer nor her managment had made any firm commitment to the tour before the point at which she pulled out of the project.
However, Bergin did rule that Kanawa's company, Mattane, had not been completely honest in their reasons for pulling out of the venture, suggesting that the opera singer had been annoyed when the rock star had missed a planning meeting and that that had also played a part in the decision to pull. To that end the judge ordered the company to pay Leading Edge A$128,063 (£52,000) towards costs incurred.