Pink Cover Band Sued (Singer Accused of Being "Aesthetically Incorrect")

rocknation · #1 08-05-2014, 10:05 PM

Quote:

New York Post: ...Collette McLafferty, a 40-year-old singer, has been slapped with a $10 million lawsuit by Charles Bonfante, who whines that her lack of sex appeal and talent ruined his big plan to start Long Island’s first Pink cover act.

Bonfante — a lawyer who brags at length in his suit about drumming on tour for Michael Bolton and in the second-tier ’80s glam-metal band Saraya — says...that McLafferty and the other band members are “subpar” musicians...He told his collaborator, Rik Nevone, he did not want (them) in the act...“McLafferty was a mediocre vocalist at best...She had pitch problems, oftentimes singing flat for extended periods of time,” the suit says. And as for her look, he claimed: “She didn’t look the part, or at least contribute to the overall aesthetics of the band.”

...But when Nevone went ahead with her at a small gig on Long Island under the name Funhouse — after Pink’s fifth album — Bonfante filed the suit against the members of the act for allegedly ruining his Pink band scheme.

McLafferty — who...fronts a band called edibleRed — says she never heard of Bonfante before the suit...McLafferty was paid only $75 for the gig...“I get to fight this for the next two years, according to my lawyer,” she said. “I’m going to be broke, and he’s going to have a hobby.”

She has filed a countersuit, seeking to have Bonfante’s claim quashed and recoup damages...Pink’s camp declined comment.

Collette has also started a donation page in hopes of offsetting $3,200US in legal fees.

If Collette never met Belfonte before he filed the lawsuit, he was presumably not the cover band's drummer. If Belfonte believes that Nevone stole his idea, that's the guy he should be suing. And being a lawyer, if Belfonte believes he has a case against the band because they weren't good enough in his opinion, he ought to be countersued by EACH member AND relieved of his law license!

P.S. After the real Pink confessed that Jon had broken her 9-year-old heart when he married, he sent her a pair of his pants with a note giving her permission to claim that she'd been in them!

rocknation · #2 09-03-2015, 10:39 PM

UPDATE: Collette is alive, well, working on an upcoming album, and has done a video covering a song by -- WAIT FOR IT! -- Pink!

She's also put up a blog, complete with an FAQ:

Quote:

Q. This is clearly a dispute between...The Plaintiff and the (band leader) who hired (you). What does this have to do with you?
A. It has absolutely nothing to do with me. This is common knowledge. I was dragged not the case simply because the Plaintiff wanted to include me. I have still never met the Plaintiff to this day.

Q. If the New York Post version of the story isn’t true, what is the true story?
A. The Plaintiff and band leader had bad blood and parted ways long before I was hired. Each started their own P!NK Tribute Band...The Plaintiff alleges that the band leader weaseled his way into his band and “stole his secrets” only to start an inferior “knock off band” that “cheapened his brand.” ...The Plaintiff alleged if we were to perform, he would suffer irreparable harm...I was not a member of the band, but an employee hired for the short term...The notion that it was my performance that inspired the lawsuit is 100% false...

She could write a book...what, she IS???

united17 · #3 09-06-2015, 11:06 PM

New York Post and truth in the same sentence?!?! Any facts that end up in Post are purely coincidental.

rocknation · #4 09-17-2015, 04:02 AM

Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York:

Collette McLafferty’s life was turned upside down in 2014 when the singer and songwriter was served with a $10 million lawsuit...by a person whom she had never met, stemming from a job she accepted in a P!NK tribute band...Bloggers and writers came to her defense, and turned their sights on the plaintiff who filed the $10 million case, Charles Bonfante.

Now the tables have turned...Bonfante, a personal injury lawyer who is representing himself, recently offered to drop his lawsuit and actually pay Collette “half her legal fees.” But McLafferty refuses to give in.

“Nobody should ever have to go through what I’ve been through. This situation has humiliated me publicly, damaged my reputation, my career, my livelihood. This is harassment, legalized extortion plain and simple.”

...McLafferty has teamed up with the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, a nonprofit, nonpartisan legal reform advocacy organization to draft “Collette’s Law.” The draft legislation takes aim at frivolous lawsuits by requiring those who file meritless actions to pay the other party’s legal costs, as well as increasing sanctions for plaintiffs who file frivolous lawsuits...

HALF my legal fees? How about ALL of them, PLUS malicious damages? Better yet, accept Bonfante's offer in exchange for him giving up practicing law!

rocknation · #5 03-25-2016, 10:24 PM

The $10,000,000 lawsuit against me has been DISMISSED!!!!!

I am no longer being sued for $10,000,000 everybody! There will be a hearing on June 2nd to give Charles Bonfante an opportunity to explain himself and figure out what sanctions should be imposed.

After two years of fighting this, I will be meeting him for the first time.

ConfessionsOfABadUglySinger:

We live in a country where anyone can sue anybody for anything. It doesn’t matter if there is merit to the case or not. A case can take years to resolve or get thrown out of court. This underreported issue has the power to close down businesses of all sizes and completely hijack lives...The place I called home for ten years is no longer my home because a total stranger sued me...Like Iggy Azalea, I too had suicidal thoughts when the media had branded me “old”, “ugly” and “off key"...

According to her blog, she's has a New York law named after her, and tried everything from reaching out to U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to going to church for the first time in thirty years to wondering why the New York Post doesn't think that 79-year old Robert Redford isn't too old and ugly to sing on a movie soundtrack. But her two-year long strange trip is finally over, and now it's Bonfante's turn to sweat since his law license can be lifted -- Confessions Of A Bad, Ugly-In-His-Soul Lawyer, anyone? Anyway, mega congrats to Collette, and no doubt she's also grateful for the attention we Jovitalkers paid!

Collette McLafferty Perfect (by Pink)

rocknation · #6 04-18-2016, 03:25 AM

More good news from the McLafferty camp: the dismissal of the case was a summary judgment!

A "summary judgment" is the legal way of saying, "Their case against me is so full of manure, I am not going to dignify it with a response other to respectfully request that YOU not dignify it with a response, your honor." Well, according to Collette's attorney:

Quote:

I prepared, filed and served a motion for summary judgment to dismiss all claims against McLafferty and for judgment on the counterclaim for abuse of process, and attorneys' fees, costs and sanctions against plaintiff. The uncontroverted evidence established...McLafferty took no part in the business decisions of Nevone's band...never met the plaintiff, never had a contract with the plaintiff, and did not know of Nevone's prior dealings with the plaintiff until the lawsuit was commenced.

The Court dismissed all claims against McLafferty and scheduled a conference for the purpose of scheduling a hearing on the issue of whether sanctions should be imposed on the plaintiff.

This is extra terrific news because since the plaintiff and the plaintiff's lawyer are the same person, a "summary judgement" against his law license can be the next item on the docket!

rocknation · #7 08-08-2016, 09:25 PM

Quote:

7/5/16 Update: It only took two years, but the trauma of the lawsuit and defamation courtesy of a man I have never met is starting to feel like a distant memory. I’ve got an album in the works and my music career is on the comeback. I’ve learned from this experience that I have amazing friends, people who stood by me even when I lost my shit form the stress. On July 19th at 9:30 AM at The Supreme Court of Riverhead, I will be in the same room with the man who sued me for $10,000,000 for the first (and hopefully only) time in my life...

I have been advised that my decision to speak about this case on social media will come under scrutiny, which I welcome. To anyone who is being unfairly dragged into the legal system, I hope I can inspire you to also shout out the injustices from the rooftops until those injustices are corrected...

Quote:

7/20/16 Update: First of all, never in a million years would I have imagined that the end of my day would consist of lunch with me, my lawyer and Charles Bonfante...I actually had refused to shake his hand when he first introduced himself....

I took the stand. I cursed out the legal system and told the judge, the stenographer, and everyone in that room that P!NKTributegate was a disgrace to the system. I called the legal system a joke and a scam to the judge’s face. I made it clear that every legal professional should be mortified of this case being allowed to be in the system for this long.

I got my legal fees back (minus what I raised online) and a little extra to cover my therapy bills. From a monetary point of view, I got much less then what I deserved. But I gained...an elevated sense sense of self love and self-respect...(and)...an appreciation for the little things in life after pulling through the depression and the severe trauma.

I made eye contact with Charles Bonfante several times and the dude looked like he was going to cry. He has agreed to have a public written apology...He wants to take a couple of weeks to reflect on everything that has happened, so I will grant him that and let him tell you in his own words that he is sorry...I consider myself a humanitarian, and an inconvenient truth is that those values are tested when coming face to face with someone who has hurt you...If mothers of slain children can forgive their killers, I can forgive Charles Bonfante...

Well, I don't forgive him -- being a lawyer himself, Bonfante should have known better than to sue anyone other than the ex-bandmate who he believes stole his idea. I hope he's grateful that he still has his license. And as far as I'm concerned, he has also spit upon every other aspiring musician who has been taken advantage of. I'll just hope that Collette finds Bonfante's apology to HER to be sufficient, and consider the matter officially closed, then.

rocknation · #8 12-22-2017, 06:11 AM

...Back during P!NK Tributegate, a musician/lawyer advised me to shut up, pay my legal fees, agree to a gag order, forget about legal reform, not demand any accountability, and focus on singing since my "window was closing" due to my age...and "...stop singing flat" (he had never heard me sing, he was going by the press reports). He told me no one outside of the NY Post would ever write about my case as it was yesterday's news...To be fair, he meant well and was offering me his services for free to sign my life and rights away...

I politely said thanks but no thanks. Instead I worked with a legal team that understood why this case was so important to fight and I gave up my Manhattan apartment so I could pay them. Since getting his legal advice, I have a lawsuit reform bill with five sponsors from The Assembly, a release on a legendary house music label, a national commercial, my first feature film singing credit, my first major label credit and have sang on tracks with producers all over the world. Oh, and a book deal.

Moral of the story: believe in yourself even when the world is literally telling you that you're old, ugly and terrible at the very thing you love more then anything that also happens to pay the bills.

https://www.facebook.com/littleredco...56345131427573

Walleris · #9 12-22-2017, 06:17 AM

I'm glad you have this forum to kill some time.

rocknation · #10 12-23-2017, 06:23 PM

I guess I'll just have to settle for hoping that the people responsible for the 1,800 views it has generated are glad, too -- especially if THEY are also aspiring musicians.

P.S. Would YOU happen to be a musician and a lawyer?

Pink Cover Band Sued (Singer Accused of Being "Aesthetically Incorrect")

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