UPDATE
Jul 12, 2023 5:40 PM CDT
Lady Gaga doesn't have to pay a reward to a woman who was charged in connection with the violent theft of two of her dogs in 2021, a Los Angeles judge has decided. Jennifer McBride, who was sentenced to two years of probation last year for receiving stolen property, sued the singer for the $500,000 "no questions asked" reward that had been offered for the return of the French bulldogs, plus an extra $1 million in damages for the "mental anguish" she suffered from not being paid. McBride, who was romantically involved with the father of one of the dog-nappers, falsely claimed to have found the dogs tied to a pole. Judge Holly Fujie dismissed the breach of contract lawsuit Monday, saying McBride's "successful pursuit of her current claims would allow her to benefit from her admitted wrongdoing," Billboard reports.
Feb 25, 2023 10:45 AM CST
There's hubris, and then there's the woman tied to the theft of Lady Gaga's two French bulldogs. Late last year, 52-year-old Jennifer McBride was sentenced to a two-year probation sentence after falsely claiming to have stumbled upon Gaga's stolen dogs tied to a pole, just days after the singer's dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was shot and her pups Koi and Gustav were seized in Los Angeles in February 2021. Investigators later determined that McBride was romantically involved with the father of one of the men said to have attacked Fischer.
McBride had shown up at the police station with the dogs, inquiring about the $500,000 reward Gaga was offering for her pets. Now, she wants what she thinks she's due—that money, plus more, per TMZ, which reports McBride is suing to get Gaga to pay up. What the "plus more" means: McBride actually wants $1.5 million as her payout, triple what was originally promoted, as she says the reward was misleading, per her suit. The complaint claims that Gaga "defrauded" McBride "by making a promise without intent to perform," per BuzzFeed.
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The suit goes on to note that McBride is seeking compensatory damages for the "pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life" she's endured from not receiving the reward. LA County Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee isn't buying any of that. She tells TMZ that McBride, who'd long known the men alleged to have carried out the attack, definitely knew the dogs were stolen before she brought them back. Hanisee also says that because she's white, McBride and the others involved in the crime thought police wouldn't suspect her of being involved in anything nefarious. (More Lady Gaga stories.)
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