A court has rejected a claim brought by a man who claimed that he wrote a song which featured on one of U2’s albums.
Maurice Kiely had alleged that he wrote the track ‘A Man and a Woman’ in 1998, claiming that he performed the track with Cindy Crawford. The song featured on the U2 album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
Mr Kiely sued U2 Ltd, a limited liability company which are linked to the band.
The company denied these claims, insisting that the song was scribed by lead singer Bono, with the music being composed by all four members of U2.
On Friday, these claims were dismissed by the High Court, with Mr Justice Mark Sanfey agreeing with the claims made by U2 Ltd.
“interrogatories”
In court Paul Coughlan BL, speaking for U2 Ltd, had said that Mr Kiely was representing himself in the case.
He added that Mr Kiely had brought a motion seeking ‘interrogatories’ or answers to certain questions from the defendant.
This is apparently the second time that Mr Kiely had brought this motion, with his previous application also refused by the court.
Mr Kiely was also not in court when the motion was read out. However, he was spotted in court earlier that day.
He had indicated in previous emails that he would not attend, but had suggested in other messages that he might do so.
It was also reported that Mr Kiely had requested that the defendants stop harassing him, but only to contact him if they were paying him.
Under these circumstances, counsel asked for the case to be dismissed, due to the fact that his client had brought out a motion looking to dismiss the action over alleged failure to make a full and proper discovery on behalf of the plaintiff.
“still hasn’t found what he was looking for”
The matter was later adjourned by the judge, in order to see if Mr Kiely could be located, if he wanted to submit anything else regarding the application to pull the plug on the case.
Mr Coughlin told the court that Mr Kiely had been emailed about this strike out application, but his whereabouts were unknown.
It was at this point that the judge asked if Mr Kiely had “still hasn’t found what he was looking for”.
All things considered, the judge ruled that proceedings should be dismissed, on the grounds that Mr Kiely had opted not to attend court himself, and a failure to comply with several discovery requirements.
Mr Kiely had previously claimed that he had arranged an oral agreement with U2 bassist Adam Clayton to allow the band to use ‘A Man and a Woman’ on their album if certain terms were met.
He claimed that the song would only be used on the album, never to be performed by U2, or registered as their own material.
Last year, Mr Justice Brian O’Moore dismissed a pretrial motion from Mr Kiely asking U2 to answer pre-trial questions in court, otherwise known as interrogatories.
The plaintiff had wanted Mr Clayton to answer several questions about the song as part of his claim against the band.
However, this was denied by the judge due to the nature of the questions asked, calling these interrogatories inappropriate. He also ruled that U2 Ltd should not be obliged to respond.
He also added that they had “nothing whatsoever to do with” Mr Kiely’s claim.
Last month, U2 paid tribute to drummer Larry Mullen Jr at their final show as part of their major MSG Sphere. Mullen missed the residency as he recovers from neck surgery.
More on that here.
