Lady Gaga Won’t Have to Show Emails in Disgruntled Former Assistant’s Lawsuit
Lady Gaga may not have won her war on the charts with Katy Perry (yet), but she came out on top elsewhere: in court.
Mother Monster was victorious in a suit from her former assistant, who sued her for unpaid overtime hours, in terms of email evidence.
The New York Daily News reports that a judge ruled that Gaga wouldn't have to turn over emails exchanged between herself and former assistant Jennifer O'Neill from O'Neill's 2009 to 2011 tenure working for the star.
Gaga reportedly turned over a few emails for evidence, but O'Neill argued that the 'Applause' singer deliberately withheld certain messages, and that a forensic scan of her computer showed that messages were missing. Gaga and her lawyers claimed that her "Google Web-based account" purged her emails a month after she deleted them.
(Anyone with a Gmail account knows that somehow, some way, it usually keeps your junk forever. Whether you like it or not.)
Manhattan Federal Court Judge Paul Gardephe bought Gaga's claim, saying, "Plaintiff has not offered any evidence that defendants have withheld responsive emails, or that they destroyed emails."
Also being subpoenaed is Gaga pal photographer Terry Richardson, whom O'Neill says has photographic evidence of her working unpaid overtime hours. Richardson turned over watermarked photographs to the court for fear that actual unmarked pictures would be reproduced.
Judge Gardephe ruled that the watermarked pictures would do for now, but that Richardson would have to turn over the actual unmarked photos if the pictures were to be used as exhibits in the trial.
As for the actual lawsuit? Only time will tell who the real 'Paper Gangsta' is.