Brandy Ordered To Pay Ex-Housekeeper $32k In Legal Fees, Weeks After Coughing Up $45k To Settle Discrimination Lawsuit
Jan. 26 2023, Published 1:30 p.m. ET
Brandy was ordered to pay an additional $32k to her ex-housekeeper to cover her legal bills — weeks after coughing up $45k to settle the discrimination lawsuit her employee filed, RadarOnline.com has learned.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, a hearing was held this week in the ex-employee Maria Elizabeth Castaneda’s lawsuit to determine attorney fees.
As we first reported, last year, 60-year-old Castaneda sued Brandy accusing her of firing her after working for 20 years at the singer’s home. She said the entertainer terminated her due to her age.
In the lawsuit, Castaneda said she was responsible for cleaning Brandy’s home in Calabasas, California. She was paid $125 per day for her work which included cleaning, cooking, and laundry.
In court, Castaneda said Brandy failed to provide her with the proper breaks.
As RadarOnline.com first reported, recently, Brandy and Maria reached a settlement where the singer agreed to pay $40k to settle a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Her lawyer said Castaneda was “not permitted to take an uninterrupted 10-minute rest break in the morning and an uninterrupted 10-minute rest break in the afternoon, nor was [Castaneda] permitted to take an uninterrupted 30-minute meal rest break.”
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In the lawsuit, Castaneda demanded in excess of $250k in damages. However, as we first reported, Brandy settled the suit and agreed to pay Castaneda $40k.
A couple of weeks later after the settlement, Castaneda demanded an additional $87k to cover her legal bills. Brandy opposed the request for legal fees. Her lawyer said the amount was “frankly astounding”.
He said the $87k demand was “excessive, unreasonable, and entirely unsupported. This case was incorrectly pled on its face, poorly litigated, and settled quickly for a mere $40,000. Lipeles Law Group has further failed to adequately support any of their requested fees.”
At the recent hearing, the judge signed off on the request for attorney fees but reduced the amount to $31,821.40.
The order noted, “[Castaneda] asserts that [Brandy’s] star status warrants a boost in the fee award. The Court is not convinced. Indeed, it may be that an early settlement pegged to the level of [Castaneda’s] wage loss was available early in the case because a celebrity like [Brandy] would want to end an unflattering lawsuit rapidly to keep it out of the public eye.”