(Photo : REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)
Garth Brooks won his case over former associate, Lisa A. Sanderson in a federal court this past week. The jury ruled that the $226,000 was a loan, not a gift as Sanderson claimed. After hearing three days of testimony, the jury only took one hour to deliberate and then they returned with the verdict.
The first half of the trial was spent viewing emails and hearing testimony from Brooks' business manager, Cheryl Harris. The evidence went a long way towards proving that the money that Sanderson got from Brooks had clearly been a loan since the beginning. The emails spelled out loan repayment terms, something that a gift would not have required. Harris also pointed out that had Brooks given the money as a gift, he would have been legally required to report it as such on his tax returns.
Sanderson's lawyer argued that the email documentation and the testimony from Harris were only a part of the story and did not take into account all the talks that the two former friends had.
While being questioned by Brooks' attorney, Harris testified that the singer had been extremely generous with his former employee on more than one occasion. When she wanted to go visit her sick father, he chartering a plane at his own expense for her. He also allowed her and her assistant to keep their computers after the Red Strokes office was closed.
The win means that Sanderson will have to pay back the original loan, with interest, as well as court costs and Brooks' legal expenses for the trial. If she loses the suit that she filed against Garth in California, she may well end up with an ever bigger legal bill.
