Amy Winehouse's father Mitch has been ordered to pay just under £1 million to two of his late daughter's friends after failing in a High Court claim over the auctioning of the singer's items.
Failed claim and legal costs
Mr Winehouse's bid against Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay was thrown out earlier this year by Judge Sarah Clarke, who found that he “knew all along” about the intended sale. The judge said it was only afterwards that he began to be “aggressive and unpleasant” in his efforts to get money from the pair.
The failed claim also saw Mr Winehouse build up legal costs of at least £950,000. He had alleged the women profited from selling dozens of his daughter's items at US auctions and “deliberately concealed” their sales during 2021 and 2023.
Court order and interim payments
Judge Clarke ordered Mr Winehouse to make interim payments to both women. Ms Parry is to receive £569,330, while Ms Gourlay is to be paid £394,521, both within two weeks. He must also cover their legal costs on an indemnity basis.
According to the judge, as of April Ms Parry's costs were estimated at £715,361 and Ms Gourlay's at £487,132.
Judge's criticism of conduct
In Wednesday's judgment, Judge Clarke said: "The claimant chose to bring an inherently weak claim, pursue it aggressively and relentlessly to the end, and make serious and unfounded allegations against the defendants which significantly damaged their reputations, career prospects, financial security and health."
The judge added that Mr Winehouse deliberately turned the case into large-scale, expensive litigation and had wanted to expand his claim “very late in the day”, causing a six-day trial in December and January to overrun by three days.
Judge Clarke continued: "This deliberate course of action was undertaken by the claimant with the aim of damaging the defendants’ reputations and professional prospects in order to force them to settle the litigation on his terms and pay him the proceeds of sale of their items. He did so, knowing that they were vulnerable both financially and in status, and that his public allegations and insinuations of impropriety would only increase their vulnerability. The fact that he knowingly and deliberately did this to two young women who had stood faithfully by Amy, and also by him and his family, and who had demonstrated their honesty and integrity over many years, makes his unreasonable conduct particularly serious."
She concluded: "I find that the defendants were fully entitled to defend their personal and professional reputations to the end, and that they had no other realistic option given the claimant’s serious and damaging allegations, his aggressive conduct throughout, his refusal to accept their explanations, his unrealistic settlement offers and the real risk that he would thereafter be free to continue making public allegations of deceit and dishonesty against them."
Amy Winehouse died on July 23, 2011, at age 27 from accidental alcohol poisoning at her home in Camden, London.
