Amy Winehouse’s friends file defence in £730K personal item auction legal row
Two friends of late singer Amy Winehouse have filed a defence against a High Court claim that they profited from selling the singer’s personal property at auction.
Amy tragically passed away in 2011 at the age of 27 following years of drug and alcohol issues. Since last year, her 73-year-old father Mitch Winehouse, has been pursuing two of Amy's friends for sums of money in excess of £730,000 which he believes they accrued by selling items that belonged to her that he feels they did not have the right to auction.
Mitch, who is acting as administrator of Amy's estate, is suing Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay, alleging they put items up for sale “in their own names and on their own behalf”. He argues they “converted” the late performer’s property “to their own use”. The estate is therefore seeking £534,192.90 in damages from Ms Parry while also claiming £198,041.07 from Ms Gourlay.
But now, in a defence filed at the High Court, Parry and Gourlay have argued the case against them should be thrown out. Lawyer Amanda Hadkiss wrote that Mr Winehouse had not shown that the disputed items in the case belonged to his daughter’s estate and that he was entitled to sue the women. She said it was denied that he “had actual possession of and/or an immediate right to possession” of any of the items, sold through a US auction house, at the time they are alleged to have been “converted”.
Parry and Gourlay also deny that Mr Winehouse is “entitled to restitution of the value of the disputed items”. Ms Hadkiss added: “The defendants (Ms Parry and Ms Gourlay) were very close friends of Amy’s and shared her interest in fashion and style. During Amy’s lifetime the defendants and Amy would frequently lend one another fashion items and other items to be worn and/or used by each other.
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Amy Winehouse died in 2011 aged 27 (Getty Images)
Mitch Winehouse is acting as administrator of Amy's estate (Getty Images Europe)“In addition, the defendants and Amy gifted fashion items and other miscellaneous items to one another on a number of different occasions during Amy’s lifetime. The items gifted by Amy included, but were not limited to, presents, items which Amy had herself been gifted by brands and did not wish to retain, which increased in number as her fame grew, and/or items which Amy no longer considered she had use for.”
Addressing the items in dispute - of which there are 156 - Ms Hadkiss wrote: “Amy was not the owner of any of these items at any stage during her lifetime”. She also argued that some of the items had already been given away by Amy by the time she died. She argued: "Many of them had not been owned by Amy for years before her death. Amy did not own nor have an immediate right to possession of, nor have actual possession of, any of these items as at the time of her death.”
She added that since Ms Winehouse’s death, Ms Parry and Ms Gourlay had “carried out extensive unpaid work in their own right on a variety of projects aimed at preserving Amy’s career and legacy... The defendants have exercised sole and exclusive dominion as owners over all of the disputed items since at least 2012.”
In November last year, a statement was issued on behalf of the Amy Winehouse Estate by a spokesperson that said: “In 2021, Amy’s estate auctioned items from her life and career with 30% of the proceeds going to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. Two individuals sold a number of items at that auction and have retained the proceeds: the items were all Amy related.
“This year they have put more Amy-related items up for auction and together the two auctions have generated six figure sums for each of them. The estate has questioned how these items came into their possession and has not had satisfactory answers. The estate has, therefore, launched a legal process to clarify the situation. The Amy Winehouse Foundation will directly benefit if monies are recovered from either defendant.”
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