Madonna, 65 and the ticket sales giant Live Nation told a US judge on Monday (10) that they are no closer to reaching an agreement to resolve a collective action proposed by fans who filed a lawsuit over a delay in the start of a show accusing a lawyer for the plaintiffs of trying to mislead the court.
The pop icon’s lawyer, Jeff Warshafsky, who also represents Live Nation, said in a court filing that the fans’ lawyer made a “false” statement to federal judge Hector Gonzalez, in Brooklyn, last Friday (7), when he stated that there was an agreement in the case. Warshafsky said there had been negotiations but nothing had been finalized.
Two fans sued Madonna, Live National and the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, in January, accusing them of “arbitrary exercise in false propaganda” of a nighttime arena show that began two hours after the scheduled time . The plaintiffs said they would not have purchased tickets if they had known the show would start so late.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Marcus Corwin, who sent the settlement notice, defended the document at a hearing on Monday. “I would never record anything that wasn’t factually correct,” he said. He stated that he believed, based on previous communications, that an agreement had been reached.
Warshafsky told the hearing that Corwin is waging a “harassment campaign” with the aim of “extorting a lucrative settlement by forcing defendants to pay unnecessary legal fees.”
The judge rejected the notification and asked the lawyers to work to reach an agreement. “It’s far from there being one,” Gonzalez said. “I really think that this type of negotiation, of involving the court, is not something that I appreciate,” said the judge.
Corwin and Warshafsky did not respond to requests for comment at first.
At the hearing, Corwin said settlement talks were focused not just on resolving the New York lawsuit, but “98 other cases” and a class action lawsuit in a Washington D.C. federal court.
“Madonna has a long history of arriving and starting her shows late, sometimes several hours late,” the Brooklyn suit says.
Corwin told the judge that as part of the settlement negotiations, Madonna and the other defendants are trying to stop his firm from filing any more claims against them. “That’s something I can’t agree with and my clients can’t agree with,” Corwin said.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
