Crowd surfing is stupid and dangerous. Just ask Varsha Doggala, a Pittsburgh, PA woman who has filed a lawsuit against Static Nightclub claiming a DJ from the venue landed on top of her after a failed attempt at crowd surfing during an event last July, fracturing her pelvis and leaving her with assorted physical ailments including back pain.
“He just kind of jumped off the stage crowd surfing, but there wasn’t much of a crowd to catch him,” said Doggala. “He hit me from the front, I was kind of crushed.”
The name of the DJ involved in the alleged incident has yet to be named, though he is described as weighing roughly 200 pounds.
Doggala is seeking damages in excess of $35,000 from the Strip District nightclub. The club has yet to comment on the litigation.
Famed disco imprint Salsoul Records has accused Moby of copyright infringement in a lawsuit filed in California. The label known for releasing classic music by Loleatta Holloway, Claudja Barry and Jocelyn Brown in its heyday alleges that Moby used samples of First Choice’s “Let No Man Put Asunder” from First Choice in two songs, “Next is the E” and “Thousand.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, Moby, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Warner Music Group and Knitting Factory Records have all been named in the lawsuit. Salsoul is seeking damages of up to $150,000 for each allegedly willful infringement plus profits and attorneys’ fees. Moby has not commented publicly about the label’s claim. In related news, Salsoul recently lost a lawsuit against Madonna, alleging her smash single “Vogue” samples a composition called “Love Break” released by the label in 1976. Looks like Salsoul likes to keep their lawyers busy.
Globetrotting DJ/singer Scarlett Etienne filed a $175,000 lawsuit yesterday in New York against the former girlfriend of her fiancée, Samir Tabar. The 26-year-old Etienne (real name: Scarlett Hauck) claims that as a result of being cyber stalked by Tamar’s ex, Angela Kovalesky, she lost thousands of dollars in gigs because she wasn’t able to promote them on social media. According to the lawsuit, Kovalesky called Tabar, 41, at the hotel they were staying in Bali moments after Etienne posted an Instagram photo, noting she was there with Tabar. Etienne claims that she heard Kovalesky yelling at her beau over the phone, calling Etienne a “whore,” a “slut,” and other names.
Etienne claims Kovalesky threatened to “disrupt Etienne and Tabar’s lives if they did not pay her $1 million and end their relationship, according to the New York Post.
The countersuit comes one month after Kovalesky, who works for the Archdiocese of New York as the executive director at Catholic Alumni Partnership, filed a $4 million defamation, battery and malicious abuse lawsuit against Tabar in Manhattan Supreme Court Wednesday.
Kovalesky and Tabar began dating in late 2010. According to Kovalesky’s lawsuit, Tabar was “emotionally and physically abusive from the start” and the pair split in 2011. After getting back together in the summer of 2012, Tabar “began physically assaulting her on almost a daily basis.” She claims Tabar harassed her, used a dog tracker to keep tabs on her and threatened her with a knife.
According to the New York Daily News, Kovalesky’s lawyer James Ingoglia called the cyber stalking charges “complete fiction” and said any problems she’s had are solely the result of misconduct by her fiancé.
But the lawsuits don’t end there: Tabar, a graduate of Oxford and Columbia Universities, filed a separate counterclaim Monday, arguing Kovalesky’s lawsuit was riddled with lies and was filed after he got an order of protection against her. He also said the suit resulted in his firing from a high-paying job and that he’s been unable to get another position.
As this love triangle becomes undone and lawsuits fly, a smart person would snap up movie rights to this debacle.
