The singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson’s divorce has derailed once again as her estranged husband Brandon Blackstock is denying claims that his talent agency defrauded her out of millions.
Court documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight show that Starstruck Management Group, which is run by Brandon’s father Narvel Blackstock, has denied all the allegations that Clarkson made in a petition back in October. In that filing, Clarkson had accused Starstruck Management of violating California Labor Code and charging exorbitant commission fees.
Starstruck has since fired back by claiming that they are not subject to regulation under the Talent Agencies Act, as Clarkson alleged in her petition, because their duties are not performed by them in California. On top of that, the talent agency also denied that Clarkson is entitled to any relief whatsoever.
Clarkson rescinded to this development in a statement released through her attorney Ed McPherson, who said, “We stand by our allegations that Starstruck violated the Talent Agencies Act, despite their boilerplate denials, and we look forward to trying the case before the Labor Commissioner in August.”
Clarkson filed for divorce from Blackstock back in June after seven years of marriage and two children together. The divorce began to go downhill in September, when Starstruck filed a lawsuit against Clarkson claiming that she owed them over $1.4 million in unpaid commissions. The agency had represented Clarkson for the past thirteen years, and it was paid a 15 percent commission on her gross earnings during that time. Starstruck said in the suit that while Clarkson paid the firm $1.9 million last year, she owed an additional $1.4 million.
Starstruck did agree in the lawsuit that no agreement was ever made in writing, and instead was made verbally in 2007 with Clarkson’s attorney and business manager.
The next month, Clarkson filed a counter lawsuit claiming that Starstruck Management Group violated the California Labor Code by “procuring, offering, promising, or attempting to procure employment or engagements without being properly licensed.” She went on to claim that all of their agreements should be “declared void and unenforceable.” This includes the alleged verbal agreement in which the original “American Idol” winner allegedly agreed to pay the firm a 15 percent commission on her gross earnings.
Court documents filed in November show just how messy this divorce has gotten, as Clarkson and Blackstock have struggled to come to a mutual agreement regarding custody of their children.
“The level of conflict between the parents has increased,” the filing stated. “The parties have a difficult time co-parenting due to issues of trust between them.”
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