NJ Federal Judge Upholds $7.3 Mil. Award for Lady Gaga Talent Scout

The court case stemmed from an agreement between Starland and Fusari in 2005 to find a young female singer, sign her to a contract with a record label and share the resulting revenues equally, according to court documents. Starland, a singer and producer from Hollywood, CA, testified that she was instructed to find a female singer under age 25 who was reminiscent of Julian Casablancas, lead singer of the band The Strokes.

Starland claimed she fulfilled her part of the deal by finding Stefani Germanotta, the singer now known as Lady Gaga, but that Fusari didn't pay her anything for her efforts to find Gaga, which entailed eight months of searching, court documents said.

District Judge Linares turned down Starland's request for a constructive trust to be imposed on future revenue Fusari is obligated to pay her under the verdict. Although the jury found a breach of contract by Fusari, the district judge said that alone wasn't sufficient grounds to qualify for imposition of a constructive trust.

Starland claimed that Fusari intentionally excluded her from the negotiations when he formed a company with Germanotta and her father. Starland further alleged that when that company signed a contract with Interscope Records, Fusari refused Starland's request for a share of the money he would receive from the deal.

The trial verdict was entered after a week-long trial on Starland's claims for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The verdict followed a settlement in 2010 of a suit filed in a state court in New York by Fusari against Germanotta. That suit sought $30 million, but the settlement terms were confidential.

Charles Toutant is a Reporter for the New Jersey Law Journal, an ALM sibling of Entertainment Law & Finance.

The producer credited with launching Lady Gaga's career lost his bid to trim the $7.3 million he was ordered to pay a talent scout for introducing him to the singer. Federal Judge Jose Linares of the District of New Jersey denied defendant Rob Fusari's motion for remittitur of the November 2014 verdict, rejecting his claim that the amount of the award to plaintiff Wendy Starland wasn't supported by the evidence in the case. Starland v. Fusari, 2010cv04930.

District Judge Linares said the award “cannot be said to have been excessive or clearly unsupported by the evidence or indicative of manifest injustice and is not shocking to the court.” He had entered a final judgment for Starland in the amount of $7.34 million on Feb. 4, 2015, despite objections raised by Fusari, who took issue with dollar amounts and the phrasing of questions presented to jurors on the verdict form. But Judge Linares noted that the verdict form was approved by both parties during trial.

Fusari argued that $108,500 in expenses he incurred during the search for Gaga should be deducted from the amount paid to Starland. But the district judge said that, based on the evidence presented, the jury might reasonably find that Fusari's expenses weren't entitled to deduction because Starland wasn't reimbursed for her expenses either. The judge also rejected Fusari's claims that the final judgment should be reduced to reflect Fusari's earnings for composing songs for Gaga, which Starland didn't collaborate on, and should exclude his earnings for serving as a creative producer for individual songs.

The court case stemmed from an agreement between Starland and Fusari in 2005 to find a young female singer, sign her to a contract with a record label and share the resulting revenues equally, according to court documents. Starland, a singer and producer from Hollywood, CA, testified that she was instructed to find a female singer under age 25 who was reminiscent of Julian Casablancas, lead singer of the band The Strokes.

Starland claimed she fulfilled her part of the deal by finding Stefani Germanotta, the singer now known as Lady Gaga, but that Fusari didn't pay her anything for her efforts to find Gaga, which entailed eight months of searching, court documents said.

District Judge Linares turned down Starland's request for a constructive trust to be imposed on future revenue Fusari is obligated to pay her under the verdict. Although the jury found a breach of contract by Fusari, the district judge said that alone wasn't sufficient grounds to qualify for imposition of a constructive trust.

Starland claimed that Fusari intentionally excluded her from the negotiations when he formed a company with Germanotta and her father. Starland further alleged that when that company signed a contract with Interscope Records, Fusari refused Starland's request for a share of the money he would receive from the deal.

The trial verdict was entered after a week-long trial on Starland's claims for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The verdict followed a settlement in 2010 of a suit filed in a state court in New York by Fusari against Germanotta. That suit sought $30 million, but the settlement terms were confidential.

Charles Toutant is a Reporter for the New Jersey Law Journal, an ALM sibling of Entertainment Law & Finance.