Pop icon Madonna persuaded a judge in Miami to throw out a lawsuit claiming she deceived concertgoers by taking the stage 90 minutes late at a concert in April.
via: Reuters
Judge Jorge Pérez Santiago of Miami-Dade County Court said at a hearing last week that the concert’s 8:30 p.m. start time was subject to change and that an opening act performed as planned before Madonna’s appearance.
The concertgoer alleged, opens new tab Madonna and the arena, Kaseya Center, violated Florida’s law against deceptive and unfair business practices by starting the concert late and for knowingly allowing the venue to be overheated.
Pérez Santiago said there were no issues for a jury to resolve, and dismissed the case. The judge said the dispute over heat boiled down to a subjective feeling.
“If it was too hot for you, it's too cold for somebody else,” Pérez Santiago said at the Oct. 24 hearing, according to a transcript.
Marcus Corwin, an attorney for the concertgoer, told Reuters on Monday that he planned to appeal the dismissal ruling.
“My job is to help consumers get what they feel they've bargained for,” Corwin said in an interview.
Lawyers for Madonna and the arena, home to the Miami Heat professional basketball team, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Corwin has two other similar pending lawsuits against Madonna before different judges in the same court. He said a judge in one of the cases had rejected Madonna's early defense arguments.
Corwin, who is based in Florida, is also pursuing a separate class action over a late Madonna concert start in federal court in Washington, D.C. In June, he voluntarily withdrew a lawsuit in New York that accused Madonna of starting concerts two hours late.
Madonna has denied the claims in all the cases.
The lawsuits in Miami-Dade County Court sought damages of under $8,000 for different nights of Madonna’s Celebration Tour in Miami.
Corwin at the Oct. 24 hearing accused Madonna of habitual lateness.
“I mean, this is not one night. They do this all the time,” he said.
Madonna’s lawyer Austin Flickstein countered that the plaintiff got what he paid for.
“It is not unreasonable for a headlining act to have someone come up and warm up the crowd,” Flickstein told the court. “Reasonable consumers know this.”
The case is Luis Marmolejo v. Madonna Louise Ciccone et al, Miami-Dade County Court, No. 2024-128876-SP-05.
For plaintiff: Marcus Corwin of Corwin Law
For defendants: Jeff Warshafsky and Lisa Markofsky of Proskauer Rose, and Hope Zelinger and Austin Flickstein of Bressler Amery & Ross
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