Madonna is firing back at the lawsuit filed against her by two fans that were left unsatisfied when her New York City concerts started later than scheduled.
The "Like A Prayer" singer's lawyers pushed back on defendants Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden in a new motion filed on Wednesday, Billboard reports. The pair had accused her of breaking the law when she started her Brooklyn shows over two hours later than printed on their tickets.
In the new legal documents, Madonna's lawyers motioned for the judge to dismiss the case, stating that needing to "get up early to go to work" the day after the concert is not grounds for suing as if it is an "injury."
"Plaintiffs speculate that ticketholders who left the venue after 1 a.m. might have had trouble getting a ride home or might have needed to wake up early the next day for work," the lawyers wrote. "That is not a cognizable injury."
The lawyers went on to state that the plaintiffs should have known that any artist would not start their concert on the time that is listed on the ticket. Since they had previously been fans of Madonna, they should have been aware that this is a common practice at her shows.
"Nowhere did Defendants advertise that Madonna would take the stage at 8.30 p.m., and no reasonable concertgoer-and certainly no Madonna fan-would expect the headline act at a major arena concert to take the stage at the ticketed event time," the her lawyers continued. "Rather, a reasonable concertgoer would understand that the venue's doors will open at or before the ticketed time, one or more opening acts may perform while attendees arrive and make their way to their seats and before the headline act takes the stage, and the headline act will take the stage later in the evening."
Madonna's lawyers further state that Fellows and Hadden "raved" about the concert on their Facebook accounts the next day, calling it "incredible, as always!" Their stamp of approval signals that they were not dissatisfied by the experience like the lawsuit insinuates. The lawyers used the posts as evidence, stating that the defendants "got just what they paid for: a full-length, high-quality show by the Queen of Pop."
"Plaintiffs do not allege Madonna's performance was subpar, that her performance was worth less than what they paid, or that they left the concert before watching her entire performance," her lawyers wrote. "Indeed, plaintiffs do not plead any injury that they themselves suffered by spending the night at an 'incredible' concert."
In their original lawsuit, Fellows and Hadden took issue with the three Barclays Center dates for the Celebration Tour, which had been postponed from July to December following Madonna's near-fatal illness. After the show started over two hours later than what was written on their tickets, they stated that they "would not have paid for their tickets had they known that the concerts would start after 10:30 p.m."
Madonna is currently wrapping up the final dates of the greatest hits tour, which is set to conclude with a free concert at Rio's Copacabana Beach on May 4. The historic show is set to be the biggest of the "Vogue" singer's career.
