Taylor Swift Sued for $2.5M Over Concert Cancellation
Country singer Taylor Swift is being sued for allegedly not returning an advance fee she'd received for a cancelled concert.
The 23-year-old singer is accused of taking a $2.5 million advance fee to headline the Capital Hoedown in Ottawa, Canada, last August. Though the event was ultimately cancelled, Swift allegedly never returned the fee, reports E! News.
A Florida-based ticketing company brought the lawsuit against Swift, accusing her of accepting the payment and then refusing to perform or reschedule a new appearance. The company claims this was a breach of their contract.
However, Swift's people have told TMZ that the singer never made a deal with the company and that the singer hasn't even seen the lawsuit.
So will Swift have to pay?
For there to be a breach of contract, a court will first have to find that a valid contract exists. Courts look at a number of factors to determine whether an agreement should be enforced. For example:
- One party must make an offer;
- The other party must accept the offer;
- There must be a bargained-for exchange of promises, meaning that something of value must be given in return for a promise; and
- The terms of the contract must be sufficiently definite for a court to enforce them.
To find a valid contract in Taylor Swift's case, it must be shown that the ticketing company offered Swift the advance fee for some promise by Swift. Swift must have accepted the offer and agreed to perform whatever she promised.
At issue is just what exactly Swift promised, if anything. A court will have to look at the fine print of the contract to see if Swift agreed to take the advance fee only if she performed at the concert. Or she may be entitled to the advance fee for just a promise to perform, regardless of whether the show actually went on.
Related Resources:
- Swift in hoedown showdown (New York Post)
- Crocs Founder George Boedecker Blames DUI on Taylor Swift (FindLaw's Celebrity Justice)
- Taylor Swift Topless Photo Fake: Country Singer Threatens Lawsuit (FindLaw's Celebrity Justice)
