A judge ordered Amy Winehouse’s father to pay £950,000 ($1.26 million) to his late daughter’s friends Wednesday after he lost a lawsuit against them over an auction of her clothes.
Mitch Winehouse, 75, had claimed Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay had ‘deliberately concealed’ selling dozens of Amy Winehouse’s items at auctions in the USA in 2021 and 2023 and profited from them. In a hearing on Wednesday, July 29, Judge Sarah Clarke ordered Winehouse to pay interim payments to each woman within the next two weeks, with £569,330 going to Parry and £394,521 to Gourlay.
He must also pay the pair’s legal costs on an indemnity basis, which means the pair will recover more of their costs than is usual.
The late singer-songwriter, who was famed for her distinctive husky voice and enjoyed global meteoric success at a young age, died in July 2011 from alcohol poisoning, aged just 27.
Additionally,
Mitch Winehouse racked up at least £950,000 in his own legal costs in the failed bid against Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay.
Justice Clarke found that Winehouse ‘knew all along’ of the intended sales before the first auction was held. She added that it was only after the sales had been made that he began to chase them for money in an ‘aggressive and unpleasant way.’
The case centered on Amy’s possessions sold between 2021 and 2023.
The 155 items, which were auctioned between 2021 and 2023, included clothes, ballet slippers, handbags, earrings and make-up owned by the late singer, as well as a dress she wore on her final tour in 2011.
During the trial, the London court was told Winehouse’s friends “took advantage” of her father’s forgetfulness and pocketed more than $1.4 million in sales.
Yet Justice Clarke ruled otherwise in her harsh rebuke.
“The claimant chose to bring an inherently weak claim, pursue it aggressively and relentlessly to the end, and make serious and unfounded allegations against the defendants,” judge Sarah Clarke said Wednesday.
“The fact that he knowingly and deliberately did this to two young women who had stood faithfully by Amy… makes his unreasonable conduct particularly serious.”
Judge Clarke said Mitch Winehouse had chosen to pursue an “inherently weak claim” both “aggressively and relentlessly”, while asserting that his allegations had significantly damaged the women’s “reputations, career prospects, financial security and health”. She added that Winehouse had “deliberately turned this case into large-scale and expensive litigation” in an attempt to exert commercial pressure on the defendants.
Per documents obtained by PEOPLE, Parry spoke to Mitch “in or around 2018,” about the idea of an auction and put him in touch with Julien over email. Mitch eventually agreed with the “intention that a share of the proceeds would be donated to benefit the Foundation,” and the auction took place on Nov. 6 and 7, 2021.
The late singer’s former stylist Naomi Parry and her friend Catriona Gourlay denied acting dishonestly in auctioning the items they said were given or lent to them.
In the April ruling, the judge noted that Amy Winehouse was known for her “extraordinary generosity towards her friends and also those she barely knew”.
Meanwhile, Gourlay expressed relief at the decision.
“I am pleased and grateful that the Court has dismissed all the claims made against me and Naomi.”
Their lawyers noted: “We are very pleased that the Court’s decision fully vindicates Catriona Gourlay following a long court case which was very difficult for her”.
In the viral moment that anchored this dispute, a 2021 auction of Amy’s belongings in Los Angeles initially raised over $4 million, with
a green and black bamboo print dress worn by British singer Amy Winehouse sold for $243,200 (€210,395), 16 times its estimated value.
Winehouse wore the figure-hugging halter minidress, designed by stylist Naomi Parry, during her final stage performance at a concert in Belgrade in June 2011 where she was booed off stage after appearing to forget her lyrics.
A month later, on July 23, the ‘Back to Black’ star died at her home in Camden, north London, from alcohol poisoning.
Mitch claimed afterward that he hadn’t authorized many of the items Parry and Gourlay sold separately under their own names, but the judge found he had known all along.
Judge Clarke ordered Mr Winehouse to pay interim payments to each of the women – £569,330 to Ms Parry and £394,521 to Ms Gourlay – within two weeks.