Kelly Clarkson’s ongoing legal battle with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock has taken a new turn. The long-standing legal battle expanded after Kelly Clarkson filed a new lawsuit. The cross-complaint against Blackstock aims at expanding the $2.6 million ruling she won against him last fall.
With Blackstock currently appealing the November 2023 decision, Clarkson filed a new case in a Los Angeles court on Monday, March 11, 2024. According to court documents, the suit seeks a ruling that Blackstock and his father’s management firm had violated state labor rules since the start of their relationship.
Hence, Clarkson’s new lawsuit seeks an order requiring the return of “any and all commissions, fees, and profits” she paid. She also wants the advances, producing fees, or other monies she paid to Blackstock’s father’s company, Starstruck Entertainment.
According to court documents, Clarkson alleges that the payments date back to 2007. Therefore, the new lawsuit dates much further back than the earlier judgment, which only reached back to 2017. The new case is the latest development in a sprawling legal battle between the ex-spouses.
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Kelly Clarkson and her ex-husband split in 2020 after seven years of marriage. They finalized the divorce in 2022, but that personal settlement didn’t resolve tricky business entanglements with Blackstock’s father’s firm. Shortly after she filed for divorce, Starstruck sued her for millions in allegedly unpaid fees.
The management firm claimed it had “invested a great deal of time, money, energy, and dedication” into her. Also, it argued it had “developed Clarkson into a mega superstar.” In response to Starstruck’s claims, Kelly Clarkson went to the California Labor Commission a month later in November 2020.
Consequently, she set the stage for the decision that found Blackstock was operating as an unlicensed talent agent in California. The commission found that Blackstock didn’t have the necessary license when he procured Clarkson’s judging gig on NBC’s “The Voice.”
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Also, the company was unlicensed when it got contracts with Wayfair, Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), and the Billboard Music Awards. As a result, the commission awarded Kelly Clarkson $2,641,374 for commissions unlawfully collected by Blackstock.
However, the ruling covered fees collected from her on or after October 20, 2019, related to those four deals. Afterward, in December 2023, Blackstock and Starstruck challenged that ruling in court. They demanded that the same questions be re-decided by a Los Angeles judge rather than the Labor Commissioner.
According to reports, the case remains pending and is set for a hearing in August 2024. With her new lawsuit, Kelly Clarkson could win a ruling that would effectively confirm the Labor Commissioner’s findings. However, the case could allow her to expand the Commissioner’s decision.
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Although the ruling went her way, it rejected some of her core claims against Blackstock and Starstruck. For instance, the Commissioner rejected Clarkson’s claim that Blackstock should pay back commissions he earned from securing “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
According to court documents, Blackstock’s involvement in that deal, including “strategizing” with her agents, was “at the request of CAA.” Hence, the Commissioner ruled it was not a violation of the law.
“It is morally, ethically, and legally wrong to attempt to get monies back from your ex-husband,” Blackstock’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said. Freedman further noted that Blackstock spent his earnings on their kids and their lifestyle during the marriage.
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