Lady Gaga Japan Relief Bracelet Class Action Lawsuit

Mega pop star Lady Gaga is the target of a federal RICO class action lawsuit relating to the sale of rubber bracelets reading “We Pray for Japan,” which she created and sold to benefit the people of Japan after the March 11th earthquake that devastated the country. 

The Lady Gaga class action lawsuit alleges Gaga (real name Stefani Germanotta) and others used deceptive advertising by claiming the singer would donate 100 percent of the proceeds from the $5 “We Pray for Japan” bracelets to charity. According to the class action lawsuit, however, Lady Gaga and the other defendants, including Live Nation Entertainment, skimmed “a portion of the first five dollar of each donation” and “only sent a portion of the subject funds, if any, to the Japan Relief Effort.”

“Not only did defendants retain a portion of the first five dollars of the donation as set forth above, they also added additional ‘shipping charges’ in excess of the amount required to ship the wristbands based on their weight, and retained a portion of the shipping charges,” the Lady Gaga Japan bracelet class action lawsuit states.

     

“Additionally, consumers were taxed for their donations wrongfully, and the wrongfully levied taxes were not forwarded to the appropriate taxing authorities in the appropriate time frame…. Later, defendants claimed that they had raised a sum certain for the relief effort when all the funds touted as having been raised for the relief effort were not donated to the relief effort.”

The class action lawsuit against Lady Gaga continues:

“Defendants made materially false and misleading representations as set forth above when they (1) retained at least a portion of the first five dollars from each transaction instead of donating all proceeds to the Japan Relief Efforts; (2) artificially inflated reports of the total donations by including the portion of funds retained by defendants in their calculations; (3) represented that the cost to ship the bracelets was a certain amount and collected same from consumers, when it was not and (4) levied taxes against consumers for their donations that are inherently not taxable, and retained those funds. 

    

 “Defendants then used the inflated financials to solicit additional ‘donations.’ The additional donations were then treated in kind as set forth above.”

The Lady Gaga Japan Relief class action lawsuit is filed on behalf of a proposed class of all persons in the U.S. who have sent money to or through Defendants to purchase the “Lady Gaga Japan Earthquake Relief Wristband.” It is seeking compensatory, consequential and special damages, and more for alleged violations of state consumer protection laws, unjust enrichment and federal racketeering violations.

A copy of the Lady Gaga Japan Earthquake Relief Wristband Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.

The case is Caitlin Demetsenare, et al. v. Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga, Ate My Heart, Inc., Mermaid Music, LLC, House of Gaga Publishing, Inc., Bravado International Group Merchandising Services, Inc., Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., Live Nation Merchandise, Inc., Universal Music Group, Inc.