NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Lady Gaga’s first producer and former boyfriend has been given a new trial after a judge overturned an order that he pay $7.3 million to the Hollywood songwriter who discovered the singer.
U.S. District Court Judge Jose Linares ordered the new trial for Rob Fusari on Sept. 3, but the ruling wasn’t unsealed until Wednesday.
The judge found that he mistakenly allowed the jury to hear details about an allegation connected to Lady Gaga and Fusari’s personal relationship and his fiduciary duty to her. The exact details of that allegation were redacted from the order.
Fusari was ordered to pay Wendy Starland following a trial last year after a jury found that he agreed to split profits with her. Linares upheld that decision in February before Fusari appealed.
Starland testified during the trial that Fusari, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, had asked her to find an “edgy, bold, confident, charismatic” performer and “someone that you can’t take your eyes off of” to be a female version of the lead singer of “The Strokes.”