Nicole Scherzinger has been unable to finalize a settlement with Pussycat Dolls founder Robin Antin over the group’s scrapped reunion tour, and the two may be headed to trial, Us Weekly can exclusively report.
On August 12, Antin’s lawyer David Blau filed court documents pleading for permission to drop her as a client. He claimed, “irreconcilable differences have arisen between counsel and client, so that counsel can no longer effectively represent” Antin, 64, and her companies.
A hearing has been set for September 10 on Antin’s lawyer’s motion.
Antin’s lawyer dropping out comes weeks after the parties informed the court they were struggling to finalize the settlement paperwork after reaching a tentative deal to end their legal battle.
On July 24, a hearing was held where Antin’s lawyer told the court, “As of today’s date, the parties have not reached a settlement in this matter.” Antin’s lawyer revealed the news only weeks after the parties told the court a settlement in principle had been reached.
A hearing has been set for October, where the judge will set the trial date if no settlement was reached.
Nicole Scherzinger (C) and The Pussycat Dolls Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
In May, Antin and Scherzinger, 47, explained they needed additional time to hash out the paperwork.
Antin’s lawyer explained, “The parties and their counsel and representatives are continuing their efforts to resolve this matter and have spent substantial time negotiating terms and various written agreements to resolve their dispute.”
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“However, due to professional commitments of the parties and the multi-faceted structure and terms of the settlement, the parties require additional time to complete the settlement,” Antin’s lawyer added.
Antin also asked for a hearing where all parties show up. Scherzinger opposed the request for her to appear in person. Her lawyer said the singer was busy performing on Broadway in Sunset Boulevard until July.
Ashley Roberts, Kimberly Wyatt, Melody Thornton, Nicole Scherzinger, Carmit Bachar, and Jessica Sutta of The Pussycat Dolls. M. Von Holden/FilmMagic
He argued the entertainer also had, “other personal and professional commitments that would make [her appearing in court] unreasonably burdensome on her and cause irreparable harm to third parties, including ticket holders who pay as much as $400 to see her and the many people and businesses that finance and work on the production [of Sunset Boulevard].”
As Us previously reported, Antin sued Scherzinger over a planned reunion tour. The Pussycat Dolls were a group from 2003 to 2010. Scherzinger was the lead singer until she left in 2009.
Per court documents, Antin claimed Scherzinger agreed to a 49 percent cut of the profits. The founder said she spent a ton of time on the planned tour. She obtained a $600,000 advance from Live Nation for the tour. Antin said Live Nation demanded the money back after Scherzinger backed out.
Robin Antin Michael Bezjian/WireImage
The initial tour dates had to be rescheduled. In the suit, Antin claimed Scherzinger refused to perform on the new dates. She said the singer demanded the deal be modified to provide her with 75 percent of the profits and “complete creative control.”
Antin called Scherzinger’s actions “extortion.”
Scherzinger filed a countersuit against Antin, demanding $1.1 million.
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“[Antin] breached her duties and obligations to [Scherzinger], severely damaged [Pussycat Doll’s] goodwill, and wasted the funding for the planned [Pussycat Doll’s] reunion tour, ruining [Pussycat Doll’s] ability to do business through self-dealing, waste and fraud.”
Scherzinger claimed Antin jumped the gun on telling Live Nation she agreed to do the shows before she actually did. Her lawyer claimed “[Antin] made the misrepresentation to Live Nation to induce it to pay her a $600,000 advance, which she took, although she has never shown [Scherzinger] what she did with those funds.”
Scherzinger said she spent over $100,000 of her own money to pay expenses for the project and never received an advance for the project. Her counterclaim alleged she gave up other projects to work on the reunion tour, which caused her to lose out on $1 million.
