Lady Gaga Will Not Have To Pay $500K Reward After Dognapping Incident, Judge Rules

A judge ruled that Lady Gaga would not have to pay the woman who returned her dogs to her after the dognapping incident.

The woman, named Jennifer McBride, previously sued Lady Gaga, alleging that she promised to give a $500,000 "no questions asked" reward. She said in her filing that the "Bad Romance" singer breached the contract and accused her of committing fraud by misrepresentation and fraud by false promise for not paying her the reward.

Aside from the reward money, McBride wanted Lady Gaga to give her no less than $1.5 million in damages.

Court Ruled in Favor of Lady Gaga

Los Angeles Judge Holly J. Fujie made her final decision on Monday, October 2, announcing during the less than 10 minutes ruling that McBride appeared to be trying to "benefit from her admitted wrongdoing."

The judge added that McBride had unclean hands when she tried to collect the reward in the dognapping incident, even when she was eventually prosecuted.

"A party to a contract who acts wrongfully in entering or performing the contract is not entitled to thereafter benefit from their wrongdoing by seeking to enforce the contract," Judge Fujie ruled, per Rolling Stone.

While McBride was previously allowed to try again, the judge said it would not be the case anymore because "there exists no reasonable possibility that the defect can be cured by amendment."

McBride claimed in her amendment complaint that she was not involved in the stealing of Lady Gaga's bulldogs. She returned the dogs to a Los Angeles Police Department station on February 26, 2021, and claimed she found them tied to a pole.

Before the ruling, Los Angeles County Deputy district attorney Michele Hanisee said the dogs would have "ended up in a breeding mill" if Lady Gaga had not talked about her French bulldogs in public and the reward.

"If Lady Gaga suffers a financial loss by paying that reward, she will qualify as a victim of a crime under California law, and the people will be obligated by law to seek restitution in court for that loss from each and every defendant in the case," the attorney went on.

The other suspects charged in the crime include James Jackson, Jaylin White, Harold White and Lafayette Whaley.

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