Rod Stewart is faced with quote a big bill today after he lost a legal battle with the promoters of his cancelled 2002 South American tour last week. As previously reported, the promoters were trying to get back a $780,000 advance payment they had paid to Stewart ahead after the nine-date tour was cancelled. However Stewart's people claimed the tour was cancelled after its promoters were unable to pay the rest of the singer's full $2.1 million advance - and therefore the singer should be able to keep the original deposit as well as receiving compensation for the lost income the cancellation caused him. However, the courts sided with the promoters' - several of whom, their lawyer claimed, had been financially ruined by their dealings with Stewart.
Their lawyer, Dennis Holahan, added that this case should send out a message that "big players" in the media cannot get away with treating "little players" with "arrogance and greed".
Aside from Stewart having to return the advance payment, the courts also ordered the singer's lawyers and agents at the ICM talent to pay the promoters damages of $1.6m for their roles in negotiating the contract for the tour. Needless to say, Stewart's lawyer, Skip Miller, wasn't impressed by this. He told reporters outside the court: "It's ridiculous to find liability against a lawyer and an agent for doing their jobs. It's crazy. I will get this overturned if it's the last thing I do."