Patti Labelle lawsuit
Patti Labelle lawsuit,Patti LaBelle has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a complaint that she verbally and physically assaulted a mother and her 18-month-old daughter in a Manhattan apartment lobby two years ago, the mother's lawyer said Wednesday.
The agreement ends a lawsuit that accused the singer of "yelling, screaming obscenities, throwing water and drenching with water, attempting to strike and physically injure" Roseanna Monk and her child, Genevieve, in the lobby of Trump Place on Manhattan's Upper West Side on November 11, 2010.
LaBelle, her lawyer and representative did not immediately respond to CNN requests for comment on the settlement filed in a federal court in New York.
A jury trial had been scheduled for late November, but U.S. District Judge John Koeltl signed an order dismissing the case at the request of each side Wednesday morning.
LaBelle, who lived in the same apartment building as the Monks at the time, denied the allegations in her initial response to the lawsuit last December, according to court documents.
Monk's lawyer, Samuel Davis, told CNN Wednesday that it "took a bunch of depositions" before LaBelle "recognized that she was going to have to face the music."
The singer apparently was upset because she thought the child was wandering around the lobby unattended, Davis said.
"LaBelle besieged them with such ferocity, before she doused them with water, that the baby was crying hysterically," Davis said. "LaBelle would not desist."
Davis called the incident violent and traumatic. "The baby went from crying hysterically to vomiting," he said.
The incident caused a change in the child's personality for several months, he said.
"She went from being the most outgoing, saying 'hi' to everybody in the lobby of her building, to being clingy and shy," he said.
"Patti is a nice lady, but she has some anger issues," Davis said.
The Monks will donate the payment to charity, as Davis will do with his legal fees, which LaBelle must pay, the attorney said.
source: cnn
