Unilateral Contract or Just Blackmail?

 

Here is a new twist on a familiar narrative.  

Celebrity loses dog.

Celebrity offers reward for dog.

Celebrity refuses to pay person who finds and returns dog . . . 

and now the twist . . .

because the finder is the person who conspired to kidnap the dog and who was convicted as part of a conspiracy to do so, which also involved shooting the celebrity's dogwalker.

In February, 2021, Lady Gaga's assistant was walking Lady Gaga's bulldogs, Koji and Gustav (for images of the dogs, you can watch this video), when she was shot and her attackers made off with the dogs.  Two months later, five people were arrested in connection with the dognapping incident.  One of those people was Jennifer McBride, who returned the dogs.  She had a connection with the father of one of the men involved in the attack, and she pleaded no contest on one count of receiving stolen property.  She received two years probation.

But apparently that brush with fame did not sate Ms. McBride.  As Paige Skinner reports on BuzzFeed News,  Ms. McBride noted that Lady Gaga had offered $500,000 to anyone who returned the dogs "no questions asked." Ms. McBride now claims to have complied with the terms of Lady Gaga's unilateral offer.  Worse still, she alleges that she was the victim of a fraud perpetrated by Lady Gaga when the latter allegedly made a promise she never intended to perform.   In short, Ms. McBride claims that she was tricked into returning the stolen dogs.  That sneak Lady Gaga intended all along for the police to question Ms. McBride about how she came into possession of the dogs all along.  The nerve!

Marisa Sarnoff of Law and Crime provides some additional details, including a link to the complaint (journalists of the world, take note -- this is what we all want to see!).  The fraud claims are crucial because Ms. McBride alleges harms, including pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life.  As a result, she claims entitlement not only to $500,000 in compensatory damages but also to $1.5 million to compensate her for the foregoing tort harms.

Hat tip: Meredith Miller