Jennifer McBride, the woman seeking the $500,000 reward for returning Lady Gaga’s stolen French Bulldogs in 2022 had her case thrown out by a judge who ruled that Gaga does not have to pay the reward since McBride pleaded no contest to knowingly receiving stolen property in connection to the crime.
Court docs obtained by ET show show that Gaga argued that McBride is precluded from collecting the award money due to her involvement in the dog thefts of Koji and Gustavto, making McBride’s suit “legally insufficient in its entirety.” The judge agreed.
McBride was one of five co-defendants charged in connection with the theft of the prized French bulldogs in 2021. James Howard Jackson and two others were allegedly roaming through West Hollywood, California, and the San Fernando Valley, looking for French bulldogs and other expensive breeds of dogs to steal for profit.
Jackson shot and wounded Lady Gaga’s dog walker Ryan Fischer, who survived the attack, during the theft. He pleaded no contest to attempted murder. He also admitted in court to inflicting great bodily injury on the man he shot in the chest. He was immediately sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Gaga released a “no questions asked” reward offer for the return of her two dogs.
ET reports that McBride filed her suit back in February, claiming that she was denied a $500,000 “no questions asked” reward. In the suit, McBride not only wanted the $500,000, but also asked the court to triple the damages to $1.5 million due to the allegedly misleading reward.
McBride’s suit alleged that Gaga never intended to pay the “no questions asked” reward money. Instead, law enforcement asked McBride questions about the return of the bulldogs. As a result, McBride claimed she endured pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life.
McBride reported that she found the dogs and responded to the reward email to return the dogs. She also ultimately brought the dogs to LAPD Olympic Station. McBride also said she responded to the email about the $500,000 reward money that Gaga said she would give to the person who returned them.
However, detectives claimed that they were able to establish McBride had a relationship with the father of one of the suspects, Jaylin White.
McBride has 20 days to challenge the court’s ruling.
This woman had balls. Be involved with the thugs that did this and then try and profit off of it. Wise ruling.