Re: Prince...........
Prince ordered to pay gig promoters
Prince has been ordered to pay 2.95 million dollars to Irish concert promoters for cancelling a 2008 gig at the last minute.
High Court Justice Peter Kelly said he was making the total damages public because Prince has yet to pay anything to Dublin promoters MCD Productions Ltd in their confidential settlement reached on February 26.
The Dublin judge ruled Prince had committed to perform in the city's 82,300-seat Croke Park in June 2008, but withdrew without explanation just days beforehand, after 55,000 tickets were sold.
Prince, 51, did not testify at last month's hearing.
Kelly said his order was specifically against Prince, not his agents from the William Morris agency, who were absolved of liability. Prince's lawyer Paul Sreenan consented to the order.
MCD lawyer Maurice Collins said he might seek to pursue Prince using a more powerful European Enforcement Order if the performer didn't pay up soon.
MCD, Ireland's biggest concert organisers, said it had paid Prince half of his demanded 3 million dollar fee up front, another 950,000 dollars to book Croke Park for the night, advertised the concert aggressively and refunded all 55,000 tickets.
During last month's court hearing, William Morris agent Marc Geiger testified that he rarely spoke to Prince directly and found him one of his toughest clients to understand or nail down.
Geiger said he told Prince of the fury that the singer was causing MCD owner Denis Desmond during a rare face-to-face meeting in Los Angeles on June 3, 2008. He quoted Prince as replying: "Tell the cat to chill. We will work something out.
This news made my day
