January 24th, 2008, 04:01 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Administrator
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Emerald City
Posts: 10,595
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JIMMY CHOO News: Tamara Mellon is taking her mother to court
Quote:
The co-founder of the Jimmy Choo shoe boutique beloved by celebrities has filed a lawsuit against her estranged mother, seeking $US10 million in damages stemming from the 2004 sale of the business.
Tamara Mellon, the British businesswoman and socialite who turned Jimmy Choo into a luxury shoe brand, filed a civil complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court against her mother and former Chanel model, Ann Yeardye, who lives in Beverly Hills.
Mellon's US lawyer, Bert Fields, said the lawsuit deals with the 2004 sale of Jimmy Choo, in which both Mellon and Yeardye held an interest through family trusts.
According to the complaint, Yeardye, who Fields said had never been involved in the business, insisted on receiving her share entirely in cash.
This required Mellon to take the stock. But, by mistake, half of the stock that was supposed to go to Mellon was transferred instead to Yeardye, who has repeatedly refused to return it, the lawsuit said.
The complaint seeks $10 million in damages for breach of contract and related wrongdoing.
Mellon said in a statement that she had been forced to take legal action after trying other means to settle the dispute.
"I am baffled by my mother's refusal to return assets which rightfully do not belong to her," she said.
Yeardye could not be reached for comment.
Mellon, a former editor at Vogue magazine, co-founded Jimmy Choo Ltd in London in 1996 and helped turn the pricey high-heeled shoes into must-have accessories on the hit TV show "Sex and the City" and on Hollywood red carpets.
The company was sold in November 2004 to Phoenix Equity Partners.
In February 2007, it was sold for the third time in six years, this time to a group led by private equity firm TowerBrook Capital at a value of £185 million.
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-stuff.co.nz
Here's another article that was published in Vogue -
Quote:
MELLON ON THE STAND
JIMMY CHOO chief Tamara Mellon is taking her mother, Ann Yeardye, to court for breach of contract. Both Yeardye and Mellon formerly held interest in Jimmy Choo through family trusts, but when they sold the business to Hicks Muse in 2004, Yeardye allegedly received stock in error that should rightfully have gone to Mellon - and subsequently refused to return it. The lawsuit, filed at California Supreme Court, asks for £5 million in damages. "It is with immense sadness that I take this action, but I see no other way to protect my daughter's interests, which are my paramount concern," Mellon said in a statement. "The property in question was to help secure my daughter's future, and I am baffled by my mother's refusal to return assets, which rightfully do not belong to her. I have tried every means to settle this case but, after a long period of time, the action I have initiated today seems the only course available to me." While Mellon continues to be a major shareholder in Jimmy Choo, as well as its creative director, the brand was sold last February to TowerBrook Capital Partners LP in a deal worth £185 million. (January 24 2008, AM)
Leisa Barnett
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