The judge found that Jennifer McBride's lawsuit was 'legally insufficient in its entirety.'
Lady Gaga just won big in court. On Monday, a Los Angeles court ruled that Gaga does not have to pay Jennifer McBride $500,000 for returning her French bulldogs, since McBride pleaded no contest to knowingly receiving stolen property in connection to the crime back in 2022, court docs obtained by ET show.
In the docs, Gaga argued that McBride is precluded from collecting the award money due to her involvement in the dog theft, making McBride's suit "legally insufficient in its entirety."
The judge agreed, finding that McBride's involvement in the theft of Koji and Gustavto means that Gaga's promised reward for the safe return of her pups is not enforceable as a contract.
McBride, who was one of five co-defendants charged in connection with the theft of the prized French bulldogs in 2021, has 20 days to challenge the court's ruling.
In February 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.
The group came across Ryan Fischer, who was walking the pop star's three dogs. The group dognapped two of the French bulldogs and Fischer was shot in the chest by Jackson in the course of the robbery.
Gaga then released her "no questions asked" reward offer for the return of the dogs.
McBride filed her suit back in February, claiming in court docs previously obtained by ET 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.
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