MOSCOW, April 23 - RAPSI. A U.S. court will hear the lawsuit over the failure to secure Lady Gaga's performance, filed by Russia's TV Service (MUZ-TV channel) against several U.S.-based persons, no earlier than October and according to the proposed schedule agreed upon by both parties. A copy of this schedule has been made available to the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.ru).

The parties are obliged to solve all the issues during their pretrial preparation by October.

The lawsuit was brought to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on January 26. The defendants include NWE Talent Agency & Management Company, agent Ryan Burke, U.S. businessman George Sergeev, his World Media Alliance and Vision Entertainment Worldwide.

Both parties negotiated a settlement, but failed to reach an agreement. However, talks are still in progress and may later settle the dispute.
The plaintiff maintains that NWE agreed to secure Lady Gaga's performance at a music awards ceremony. MUZ-TV transferred the required amount to NWE's "escrow account."

According to MUZ-TV, NWE never even started negotiations with Lady Gaga's managers.

Although the plaintiff duly demanded to return the money, the defendants refused and TV Services went to court in Florida, seeking the return of the funds as well as the recovery of damages, since NWE failed to secure Lady Gaga's services for the required date.

NWE and Vision Entertainment claim that the plaintiff violated its contractual obligations by contacting Lady Gaga's producers directly. The defendants ask the court to dismiss the lawsuit on this basis.

The court has already ordered to freeze $1 million in the bank account of the company responsible for securing Lady Gaga's performance.