Carly Simon

Carly Simon

Carly Simon has had her lawsuit against Starbucks rejected after a Los Angeles judge ruled bosses at the coffee chain's record label were not responsible for poor sales of her 2008 album, This Kind Of Love.

The You're So Vain hitmaker, who signed a deal to release the Brazilian-themed disc through Starbucks' Hear Music label, filed suit against the chain's executives in October after the record failed to sell, shifting only 124,000 copies by late 2009 - a third of the sales of her 2005 album, Moonlight Serenade.

Simon claimed Starbucks heads scaled back their Hear Music venture just days after signing her and accused them of mismanaging the project, insisting she should have been made aware of their plans before she signed the contract.

She sued for between $5 million (£3.13 million) and $10 million (£6.6 million) compensation for Starbucks, alleging "concealment of material facts", "tortuous interference" with the contract, and "unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business practices".

But Los Angeles District Court Judge George Wu threw Simon's case out of court in a summary judgement this week, ruling the coffee executives are not obliged to share their business plans.

Wu noted that the singer's Hear Music deal did not mention anything about Starbucks directly helping to market or distribute the album and it was Simon's duty to prove she was misled in the negotiations.

In his ruling, Wu wrote, "The Court views this as a problem of proof and not a problem of pleading." Simon has been given until Wednesday to amend her legal complaint and provide evidence of Starbucks bosses' deceit, according to the Hollywood Reporter.