The Odd Reason Lenny Kravtiz Landed In A Legal Trouble With His Neighbor
Lenny Kravitz has been embroiled in a few gripping legal battles. In 2015, while performing in Sweden, the "Fly Away" singer made headlines when his leather pants tore up the middle, causing his genitals to be exposed. Footage of the incident was posted online and quickly went viral. At the time, Kravitz shared a text message from fellow rock legend Steven Tyler. "Dude ... No underwear and pierced ... You never showed me that s**t," Tyler wrote in the screenshot posted to Twitter. Kravitz added the hashtag "#penisgate" to the tweet.
Although Kravitz originally appeared to make light of the situation, legal action was taken shortly after the footage of his wardrobe malfunction went viral. A legal team for Kravitz made it clear that sharing the pant-rip footage was a violation of their "clients' copyright, human rights, right-of-publicity and performer's rights," according to Metro (via NME).
Just over a decade earlier, Kravitz was involved in a different headline-making court case. The "Are You Gonna Go My Way" artist was sued by one of the neighbors of his swanky SoHo penthouse in 2004. Reportedly, Kravitz's neighbor, Joel Disend, sustained "catastrophic" damage to his apartment after the singer's toilet overflowed, per a lawsuit obtained by The New York Times. The suit claimed that Kravitz's "blocked" toilet caused a leak, which led to $333,849 worth of damage to Disend's unit. Unfortunately for Kravitz, that was not the only issue that stemmed from the overflowing toilet.
More neighbors filed lawsuits against Lenny Kravitz
A year after the initial lawsuit over Lenny Kravitz's malfunctioning toilet was filed, another tenant in the building submitted a suit. In 2005, Allstate Insurance sought $9,387.87 from Kravitz for damages caused to the apartment of the plaintiff, Daniel Pelson, who had a 4,164-square-foot loft located on the third floor of the SoHo building, per documents obtained by The Smoking Gun. That amount was substantially less than the $333,849 sought by Joel Disend, the original plaintiff, but a third resident sued Kravitz for more than both those sums combined.
By 2006, a third lawsuit was filed over Kravitz's leaky toilet. "Pacific Indemnity Insurance Company wants Kravitz to reimburse it for $457,339.11," separate court documents obtained by The Smoking Gun read. That suit was filed on behalf of tenant Mark Van Lith, who lived on the fourth floor of the building. The legal battles continued into 2007, although Pelson — who filed the second suit and was the board president of the building — clarified that the suits were not personal, and at that point, it was out of the tenant's hands. "[O]ur insurance companies went after his INSURANCE COMPANY (not the unit owner) for reimbursement, or subrogation, as lawyers call it. The unit owners are not involved in any way," Pelson wrote to the Observer in 2007.
As the court battles between the insurance companies carried on, both Kravitz and Pelson were looking to unload their apartments for substantial amounts.
Lenny Kravitz made a killing selling his apartment
Lenny Kravitz and Joel Disend — who filed the initial toilet-water-damage lawsuit — bought their apartments in 2000, and were looking to sell. Before the suit was settled, Disend was able to sell his 4,164-square-foot-apartment in 2007 for $6.2 million, which was more than double what he reportedly paid for the place, per the Observer. At the time, Kravitz had his 5818-square-foot apartment listed for $19.5 million.
It took Kravitz a few more years, but he finally sold the lavish pad for $14,995 million in 2010 — after the price fluctuated from $17 million, per Curbed New York. This was a major profit for the rock star who initially paid about $8 million. In fact, the "American Woman" artist was rumored to sell the penthouse to another well-known singer, Alicia Keys. Although, it appears Keys was not there long, as she listed the spot in 2012.
The lawsuits with his neighbors were not the only property-based legal issues Kravitz had in the 2000s. He was sucked into a legal battle between David Copperfield and a real estate developer named John Melk in 2005. Copperfield had purchased property in Cutter Cut Cay island in the Bahamas from Melk, who claimed in a lawsuit that he had not agreed upon the purchase, per Crain's Chicago Business. Melk filed court documents which claimed Kravitz used the relationship with his cousin — Bahama Prime Minister Perry Christie — to aide Copperfield in finalizing the real estate deal.