Lady Gaga Still Doesn’t Owe Reward To Woman Charged In Dog Theft – Billboard

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A Los Angeles choose dominated once more Monday that Lady Gaga was not obligated to pay a $500,000 reward for the return of her stolen French bulldogs to the identical lady who was criminally charged over the incident.

Doubling down on an earlier determination to toss the case, Judge Holly Fujie dismissed a breach of contract case filed by Jennifer McBridewho pleaded no contest in December to receiving stolen property in reference to the 2021 theft, through which Gaga’s canine walker Ryan Fischer was shot and almost killed.

After the choose had given McBride an opportunity to repair her case, her lawyer argued that she was “in no way involved” with the theft of the canine and solely wished to assist the animals. But in Monday’s determination, Judge Fujie mentioned she was unswayed.

“Although plaintiff alleges that her motivation was to protect the bulldogs (and also to collect $500,000.00), this alleged motivation does not negate her guilt of the charge because she has admitted receiving the bulldogs with knowledge that they were stolen property,” the choose wrote. “If anything, the [updated lawsuit] makes even clearer … that plaintiff has unclean hands that prevent her from profiting from her actions.”

McBride is certainly one of 5 folks charged over the Feb. 24, 2021, gunpoint dog-napping of Gaga’s bulldogs, Koji and Gustav. Prosecutors say the singer was not particularly focused, and that the group was merely making an attempt to steal French bulldogs, which will be price 1000’s of {dollars}. James Howard Jackson, the person who shot Fischer in the course of the theft, took a plea deal in December and was sentenced to 21 years in jail.

Days after the attack, it was McBride who returned the dogs to police, claiming she’d discovered the animals tied to a pole and asking concerning the reward. While police initially instructed the media that McBride gave the impression to be “uninvolved and unassociated” with the crime, she was later linked to the theft and charged with one rely of receiving stolen property and one rely of being an adjunct after the very fact. In December, she pleaded no contest to the property cost and was sentenced to 2 years of probation.

But simply two months later, McBride was again in court docket once more — submitting a civil lawsuit claiming she deserves the credit score for returning the famous person’s bulldogs. The case argued that Gaga’s promise of a reward, which the media characterised as “no questions asked,” was a binding “unilateral” supply to pay for the protected return of the dogs, and that McBride had taken her up on the proposal by flipping on the lads who truly dedicated the theft.

But Gaga’s legal professionals shortly argued {that a} convicted felony like McBride can not “profit from her participation in a crime.” And in July, Judge Fujie agreed.

“The allegations in the complaint are directly related to wrongful conduct that plaintiff pleaded guilty to in the criminal proceeding,” the choose wrote on the time. “Under the circumstances, plaintiff’s successful pursuit of her current claims would allow her to benefit from her admitted wrongdoing.”

In making an attempt to re-file an up to date model of her lawsuit, McBride’s legal professionals argued that she had “had no involvement with nor knowledge of the taking of Defendant’s dogs.” But in Monday’s ruling dismissing the case once more, Judge Fujie identified all of the issues that McBride’s legal professionals didn’t say.

“While Plaintiff alleges that she was not involved in the prior planning or the commission of the theft of Moving Defendant’s bulldogs, she does not deny that at the time she claimed the reward she knew that they were stolen from Moving Defendant, nor does she deny that she received them with that knowledge,” the choose wrote.