Lawsuit Against Madonna Over Late Start Times Dismissed
The two concertgoers who attended Madonna’s Brooklyn show for her Celebration Tour and subsequently sued over a delayed start time have voluntarily dismissed their lawsuit, according to court documents filed on Wednesday.
According to the filing reviewed by Rolling Stone, plaintiffs Michael Fellows and Jason Alvarez gave notice of their dismissal with prejudice, meaning that their claims cannot be re-filed. Jeff Warshafsky, representing both Madonna and Live Nation in the case, filed a letter on Wednesday further stating that the dismissal “was not the result of any settlement” between the parties.
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Warshafsky further wrote that Madonna and the concert promoter “do not agree with plaintiffs’ position that each party should bear its own fees and costs,” as the dismissal notice first said, pointing toward their legal expenses including “filing two motions to dismiss” as well as opposing the false settlement notice the court spiked last week.
“Defendants believe that this action was a frivolous strike suit designed to force them to incur legal
expenses,” Warshafsky 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 need to oppose defendants’ motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint.”
Warshafsky didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.
The plaintiffs first filed the suit against Madonna in January, a month after attending Madonna’s show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The concert started at 10:30 p.m., two hours after the advertised time, and they accused Madonna and Live Nation of false advertising, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices. The plaintiffs claimed that after the show, they were confronted with limited public transportation, limited ride-sharing, and/or increased public and private transportation costs at that late hour,” and that some attendees “had to get up early to go to work and/or take care of their family responsibilities the next day.”
Since the New York suit first surfaced, Madonna and Live Nation faced several more similar lawsuits. Three concert-goers who attended her show in Washington, D.C. sued over the start times in April, and in May, an attendee at her Kia Forum show in Los Angeles sued over the start time as well as new allegations that attendees were exposed to “pornography without warning.”
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