Madonna's neighbours want her to pay their $140,000 legal fees.

Madonna

Madonna

The 'Music' hitmaker previously sued the board of her Manhattan apartment building after they insisted her kids and staff couldn't live in her $7.3 million abode unless she was also "in residence" but the case was dismissed in 2017, prompting her to launch an appeal.

And now fellow residents of Harperley Hall have taken action against her in a bid to claw back some of the money they've spent fighting her "endless litigation".

In a Manhattan Supreme Court filing obtained by the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column, they wrote: "Plaintiff is a revered performing artist, and her reputation and success are no secret.

"But her unique ability to fund endless litigation, however meritless, prejudices the building's innocent shareholders who are funding this litigation while also complying with the use provision that plaintiff seeks to invalidate for personal desires."

They are seeking to be compensated for their legal bills as the 60-year-old star has "seemingly endless means to pursue litigation, however tenuous her claims may be".

Madonna - who has children Lourdes, 22, Rocco, 18, Mercy and David, both 13, and six-year-old twins Esther and Stella - had previously argued the owners of the building knew her status and lifestyle and hadn't objected to her letting others stay when she moved in to the building over a decade ago.

She said in court papers: "At that time, I was, and still am, a world-known performing artist.

"At that time, One West knew or should have known that I travelled extensively and owned other residences.'

"[The building] is a place I call home. It is there that I have my cherished personal effects and property such as artwork, paintings, sculpture, special furniture and the like...

"Certainly such a requirement is ridiculous and impossible for almost any family to comply with, and certainly not someone with plaintiff's itinerant schedule."

However, a judge later warned the '4 Minutes' singer's status should award her special treatment.

He told her lawyer: "Let's say your client were a traveling salesperson or away in college or serving a brief period in jail, wouldn't your client be as protected then as she is now going on tour and spending an inordinate amount of time in hotels?

"It's the same principle. There's a landlord-tenant relationship between your client and the cooperative corporation and they could bring a Housing Court action to evict."


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