Two Madonna fans have now dropped their lawsuit protesting the late start of her concerts, but the star's lawyers are emphatic that the move was “not the result of any settlement” and warned they may seek sanctions over the “frivolous” case.
In a motion filed in federal court Wednesday, lawyers for the affected fans said they would permanently drop the case, which accused Madonna and Live Nation of breaking the law by keeping fans waiting for hours at her December concerts in Brooklyn on her Celebration Tour.
But later that day, lawyers for Madonna and Live Nation sent a letter to the judge advising him that the motion to dismiss the case had been made “unilaterally” by the other side — and that they had not they reached all sorts of deals to end a case they say should never have been filed.
“Defendants believe this action was a frivolous strike designed to force them to incur legal fees,” the star's lawyers wrote. “Plaintiffs have now abandoned this lawsuit when it became clear that this approach would not result in a settlement payment and that they would have to oppose defendants' motion.”
The motion to settle the case said each side would “bear its own costs and expenses,” but Madonna's lawyers said in their letter that they had never agreed to such a thing — and that they may require the plaintiffs to return the money he was forced to spend in litigating the short-lived lawsuit.
“Given the legal costs defendants have been forced to incur in defending this action … defendants reserve the right to move for punitive damages, attorneys' fees and costs,” lawyers for Madonna and Live Nation wrote.
Counsel for the plaintiffs, Michael Fellows and Jason Alvarezdid not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Madonna and Live Nation were first sued in January over the Brooklyn shows — a case that made headlines for claiming fans “had to get up early to go to work” the next day. She was later hit with a similar lawsuit in Washington, DC that claimed fans were waiting in an “uncomfortably hot” arena and that she had lip-synced parts of the show. A third lawsuit, filed last month, echoed those claims, but also claimed that Madonna's Los Angeles show was unexpectedly “pornographic.”
All three cases have been filed as class action lawsuits, aimed at representing potentially thousands of other fans who also experienced the alleged delays. By starting the concerts later than expected, the lawsuits allege that Madonna and Live Nation breached their contracts with fans and violated state consumer protection laws.
Madonna's lawyers have strongly denied the allegations. In a motion to dismiss the New York case earlier this year, her lawyers argued that simply having to wake up early was not the kind of “known injury” that can form the basis of a lawsuit. And they say that anyone who buys a concert ticket is well aware that a show probably won't start at the exact time listed on the ticket.
“No reasonable concertgoer — and certainly no Madonna fan — would expect the headliner at a major arena concert to take the stage at the time of the ticketed event,” her legal team wrote in April.
While Wednesday's dismissal means the New York case is now closed, the DC and Los Angeles lawsuits remain pending.
