Madonna‘s ex-pal is asking a Manhattan judge to toss a lawsuit filed against her by the aging pop star over a planned auction of the singer’s possessions.
Her Madgesty had filed the suit in January asking a judge to bar the former friend, Darlene Lutz, and the company Gotta Have It! Collectibles from selling some of her “highly personal items,” such as a love letter to late rapper and former boyfriend Tupac Shakur, a pair of worn panties and a strand-snarled hairbrush containing her blond locks.
Lawyers for Lutz noted in their new motion that Madonna admitted during an undated deposition that she had no real reason to believe the items were snatched.
“Do you have any good-faith basis to allege that my client, Darlene Lutz, took these underwear [Lot No. 10] from you?” one of Lutz’s lawyers, Judd Grossman, asked.
“I do not,” Madonna responded, according to the papers.
The papers also argue that the “Like a Virgin” singer can’t claim ownership of her “previously worn underwear” because she sent it as a gift to ex Peter Shue in the 1990s.
The underwear was accompanied by a note in which Madonna told Shue that the delicates are for “luck & love … even though I’ve only known you for less than a week.”
Lutz has previously said Shue was behind the auction of the lingerie.
“Ms. Lutz acquired other correspondence, including a letter from Tupac Shakur (Lot No. 128), directly from Plaintiff’s assistants,” the paper say, adding the items were being tossed at the time.
Grossman also argued that Madonna couldn’t balk at his client selling her “DNA”– an accusation she made about the hair-filled hairbrush — when she gives it away freely on underwear.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gerald Leibovitz previously ordered the auction halted, at least for now.
He has yet to rule on whether he will toss the case.