High Court orders former U2 stylist to return items

Former U2 stylist Lola Cashman has to return to the band a Stetson hat worn by Bono, as well as a pair of trousers, a green sweatshirt…

Former U2 stylist Lola Cashman has to return to the band a Stetson hat worn by Bono, as well as a pair of trousers, a green sweatshirt and a pair of silver earrings used by the band during its Joshua Tree tour, the High Court ordered yesterday.

Mr Justice Michael Peart dismissed Ms Cashman's appeal against a Circuit Court order directing her to return the various items to the band.

Ms Cashman had claimed the items were given to her as gifts, but the judge said he was satisfied the items remained the property of U2 and he preferred Bono's evidence on the matter to Ms Cashman's. Despite the finding against her, Ms Cashman will not have to meet the substantial costs incurred by U2 in the case after Paul Sreenan SC, for U2, told the judge his clients were not seeking a costs order against her.

Neither Ms Cashman nor any members of U2 were in court for the judgment.

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In his reserved decision, Mr Justice Peart said he could not be satisfied that the account given by Ms Cashman was correct as he had found many instances where her evidence lacked credibility, plausibility or probability.

While the instances in question related to matters peripheral to the main issues, the judge said that if her evidence was unbelievable in those respects, there was little reason why he should give more credence to her evidence about largely uncorroborated and unsupported assertions on the more central issues.

He did not believe Ms Cashman was deliberately being untruthful, but that she had in the main convinced herself "to the point of honest belief" that the goods were given to her and had developed, "sometimes inconsistently", a story of recollection in relation to them.

In his judgment, he said the credibility of witnesses was crucial as the court was dealing with events dating back about 19 years.

While Ms Cashman displayed a clear recollection of some matters and none about others, Bono had little or no recollection of things having happened in the way she recollected. In those circumstances, the onus was really on Ms Cashman to satisfy the court that ownership of the goods passed completely to her by the circumstances in which she claimed that the goods came into her possession.

The court's task was not to establish the truth but to determine as best it could, in the face of honestly given yet conflicting evidence, what happened or did not happen in relation to the disputed items. All U2 could do was assert the unlikelihood that it could have happened because of the nature of the items in questions, which were important to their stage image and were needed for ongoing filming.

None of the witnesses called on U2's side lacked credibility, the judge said. He would come down in favour of Bono in relation to the accounts given on the Stetson hat and trousers. He was not satisfied that Ms Cashman was being honest and truthful in her evidence relating to a U2 video monitor which was seen in her apartment in 1991. Ms Cashman's lack of consistency in her evidence in both the Circuit and High Courts was "serious" and "must speak clearly on the question of overall credibility".

Mr Justice Peart also referred to Ms Cashman's book, Inside the Zoo - U2, in which she claimed U2 manager Paul McGuinness asked her to stay on after the Joshua Tree tour and work solely for the band. Mr McGuinness had denied that any retainer was offered.

Ms Cashman had stated she introduced Larry Mullen to wearing Converse All Star boots, whereas a picture of him before she was employed by the band clearly showed him wearing this type of footwear.

"This to me is indicative of a person who is inclined to exaggerate her importance and involvement with the band," the judge held.