(10-17-2006) Bono Says It Was His Idea to Wear Stetson Hat --Times Online*

[ShellBeThere]

goodness me, to hear some of you guys (chizip and u2man) complain that this is too small an issue for them to be dealing with is just so silly!

This chick took lots of their gear, violated trust, and when their lawyers asked her to stop, *she* apparently made the bizarre step of claiming it was defamation for them to claim they never 'gave' it to her. I mean, she was *in charge* of their gear, and apparently just took stuff. At least that's what the first judge ruled.

How can she launch 'an appeal' then? On what grounds is she appealing? I thought you had to have something other than "I still think I'm right" to get a case *retried*?!

Maybe she feels she stands to gain some here, but maybe she just wants to do all she can to make the lads pay psychologically for 'dissing' her, to seem small as she is by having to come to court and say it's my fucking hat when they're rich rockstars. So, they have to say things like we wanted to preserve these special items for the to-be-built U2 shrine or at least for charity auctions of our own, and counter her claims with quotes like "it was *my* idea to wear the stetson" etc...
which I think Bono stated eloquently and very believably btw...

Maybe it's true that all she had to do to convince *herself* that they were 'giving'/'letting her have' their stuff was wear it around like Bono claims she did a lot and that if they didn't say "Now, remember, wash your smell off it and put it back where you found it when you're done", they were as good as saying "just take it home and keep it luv!"...
but then once the owners tell you, no, sorry, you misunderstood...
you say oops, sorry and you're done with it!

Any other response is just evidence of that "interpersonal relations problems" Bono kindly refers to....

cheers all!

 

[biff]

The judge has reached a decision in this case:

Times Online November 15, 2006


U2 win High Court battle over Stetson hat
By Lee Glendinning



U2 have won a High Court battle over the ownership of Bono's famed cowboy hat, after their former stylist was ordered to return the item along with other clothes and belongings she took from the band almost two decades ago.

Lola Cashman, the stylist with a "good eye" but "eccentric" personality, who worked with the band for nine months from 1987-88, insisted that the Stetson hat was a gift, given to her when she left the band at the conclusion of the Joshua Tree tour.

She launched an appeal against a ruling that ordered her to return the items.

But after a lengthy and costly legal fight with the rock heavyweights, a High Court judge in Dublin ruled that on the balance of probability the items were not given to her during the tour.

Senior counsel for U2, Paul Sreenan, said they would not be pursuing costs against Ms Cashman for the appeal or an earlier circuit court action she lost last year. Neither the band - who are presently on tour in Australia - nor Ms Cashman were in court for the ruling.

Mr Justice Michael Peart also ordered that two souvenirs mugs, a Christmas decoration, two Polaroid photographs and a photocopy of a hand-written list of U2 songs must be returned to the band.

In his 38-page judgment on the case, he accepted that a pair of black Converse All Star boots, which belonged to drummer Larry Mullen Jnr, were given to Ms Cashman.

During the trial, Bono, aka Paul Hewson, told the court that the trademark Stetson hat was his idea, conceived before Ms Cashman arrived to work with the band.

He had come up with the image, he said, to represent American iconography. "It was always part of my idea of how I wanted to present myself to the world in an iconic sense," he said.

Ms Cashman was found by U2's management company through an agency before the tour, and was selected personally by Bono to replace a stylist on maternity leave.

"It was a very big moment in the band’s career," Bono, 46, said, describing how it was the point the band was moving out from playing in arenas to outdoors stadiums.

"Everything had come right for us. We had a lot of songs on radio around the world and particularly in the US we had a couple of number one singles."

Styling wasn’t one of the band’s strengths, he said, and Ms Cashman was a natural, despite her "eccentric behaviour".

"She was unusual," he said. "She wore my clothes all the time and the other band members’ clothes. We went a very great distance to keep Lola Cashman because she was very good at her job."


Ms Cashman was responsible for the transport of all wardrobe items during her nine months with U2. Bono said he had stressed it was important to the band, as well as Paul McGuinness, their manager, to keep record of their memorabilia to either archive or donate.

"We thought it would have some importance of the history of the band," he said. "We hoped we would be around long enough to be part of that."



It was after the Joshua Tree tour in 1987, that Ms Cashman claimed she was given the hat along with a pair of metal-hooped earrings, a green sweatshirt and a pair of black trousers, which in total, were estimated to be worth £3,500.

U2 first become aware that Ms Cashman had some of their belongings in 1992, Bono told the court, after an employee visited her apartment.

Anxious to preserve memorabilia, both for historical reasons, and to raise money for charity, they tried then to recover items, which also included a video tape, video monitor, rosary beads and photographs.

In 2000 Ms Cashman put some of the memorabilia, including a signed album cover, up for auction at Sotheby’s. She said there had been no objections until she placed the remaining items for sale at Christie’s in 2002 when she received two letters from lawyers seeking their return.