Following issues with Jay-Z’s TIDAL over alleged unpaid royalties, Kanye West has shot off another lawsuit… this time over his cancelled “Saint Pablo Tour”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the rapper filed a $ 10 million lawsuit against Lloyd’s of London this week, claiming the insurer has not paid him for claims involving the early cancellation of his tour last fall, following his widely reported mental breakdown.
In court documents, West says he filed a loss claim just two days after he checked himself into a psychiatric center, but has not been paid more than eight months later.
“Nor have they provided anything approaching a coherent explanation about why they have not paid, or any indication if they will ever pay or even make a coverage decision, implying that Kanye’s use of marijuana may provide them with a basis to deny the claim and retain the hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums paid by Very Good [Touring, Inc.],” states the complaint. “The stalling is emblematic of a broader modus operandi of the insurers of never-ending post-claim underwriting where the insurers hunt for some contrived excuse not to pay.”
The lawsuit claims that West suffered from a “disabling condition”, referencing his onstage outbursts and citing “strained, confused and erratic” behavior ahead of the cancellation.
“While Kanye was still under medical care for his disabling condition, the Defendant syndicates demanded that Kanye submit to an immediate [independent medical examination],” states the court documents. “Kanye was made available for a purported IME by a doctor, hand-selected by the insurers’ counsel, who was predisposed to look for some reason to deny the claim. Yet even Defendants’ selected doctor had to admit that Kanye was disabled from being able to continue with the Tour. As demanded by the insurers, Kanye was also subsequently presented for an examination under oath (‘EUO’), and at least eleven other persons affiliated with Kanye and Very Good were similarly presented for EUOs.
Furthermore, West’s suit says Lloyd’s of London leaked his information to news outlets, and in doing so, breached non-disclosure agreements between both parties. “Plaintiff is informed and believes that the ‘planting’ of the Confidential Information with news outlets… was part and parcel of Defendants’ efforts to impair Plaintiff’s rights to the indemnity payments due under the Insurance Policies,” states the complaint.
Kanye’s lawyer, Howard King, tells THR that his lawsuit be a lesson to other artists working with Lloyd’s. “Performing artists who pay handsomely to insurance companies within the Lloyd’s of London marketplace to obtain show tour ‘non-appearance or cancellation’ insurance should take note of the lesson to be learned from this lawsuit: Lloyd’s companies enjoy collecting bounteous premiums; they don’t enjoy paying claims, no matter how legitimate,” he said in a statement.
