Lady Gaga can finally put the painful saga of her stolen dogs behind her.
The 37-year-old singer and actress had a woman’s request for her $500,000 reward for the dogs’ return thrown out for good, according to documents obtained by People.
Gaga — whose dog walker Ryan Fischier was assaulted and shot in the chest by two assailants during the theft — had been sued by Jennifer McBride, who claimed she was owed the sizable reward for bringing in the stolen dogs.
She initially claimed to have merely found the dogs tied up after the theft and assault, but later pleaded no contest to a charge of receiving stolen property, leading to a two-year probation sentence.
Los Angeles–based Judge Holly J. Fujie ruled on Monday that Gaga (real name: Stefani Germanotta) is off the hook for the reward for good.
It’s over: A judge threw out a lawsuit from woman who was allegedly involved in a plot to steal two of Lady Gaga’s dogs on Monday, according to People; seen August 31 in Las Vegas
Tenuous logic: Despite pleading no contest to a charge of receiving stolen property, Jennifer McBride claimed she was still owed the $500K reward (and even more) because Gaga said there would be ‘no questions asked’
Back in July, Fujie had given McBride 20 days to amend her filing after initially ruling she wasn’t eligible for the reward after pleading no contest to being involved with the theft.
In her amended filing, McBride claimed that she was ‘in no way involved in the theft,’ and she said she only ‘took possession’ of the stolen pooches in order to return them to the A Star Is Born actress.
In light of her previous plea, Gaga’s legal team said her new filing ‘makes no sense’ in response.
In her ruling, Fujie writes that the court ‘finds that nothing alleged in the [first amended complaint] changes [the initial] conclusion.’
McBride’s complaint has been thrown out with prejudice, meaning that she will not be able to file another amendment in hopes of slipping it through the legal system.
Gaga had initially refused to pay McBride the requested $500,000 reward over concerns that she had been involved in the theft, and her later no contest plea didn’t help matters.
McBride was dating the father of one of the two men who stole the dogs, raising suspicions that she was intimately aware of the criminal scheme.
According to document obtained by TMZ, it was that conviction that led the judge to dismiss McBride’s lawsuit for the unearned reward money.
Second chance: McBride was given 20 days to amend her filing back in July after the judge said her plea invalidated any claim to the reward
Culpable: The judge determined the reward and Gaga’s ‘no questions asked’ policy weren’t legally binding
In his ruling, the judge wrote that allowing the lawsuit to proceed ‘would allow [McBride] to benefit from her admitted wrongdoing.’
When she launched the lawsuit in February 2023, McBride said she was owed the money because Gaga had offered the reward with ‘no questions asked.’
Gaga had announced the $500,000 almost exactly two years earlier after two of her Frenchies were stolen.
In addition to requesting the full reward, McBride also wanted to court to triple the damages for a total of $1.5 million, as she claimed that Gaga’s reward offer was misleading.
LA County Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee previously told TMZ that McBride was aware the dogs had been stolen when she turned them in for the reward at the LAPD Olympic Community station just two days after they were stolen.
Gaga’s dog walker Ryan Fischier was taking three of her French Bulldogs for a stroll when two men — James Howard Jackson and Jaylin White — jumped out of a car and stole two of the dogs, while a third ran away and was later recovered.
During the assault, in which the two men choked Fischier, Jackson hit him with a semiautomatic handgun and then shot him once.
Fischier was left bleeding on the sidewalk before emergency responders rushed him to a hospital, where he had surgery to remove portions of his lungs damaged by the gunshot.
Shocking attack: Gaga’s dog walker Ryan Fischier had three of Gaga’s Frenchies on a walk in February 2021 when two men assaulted him and stole two, before shooting him in the chest
Survivor: Fischier survived after having part of his lungs removed, and Gaga paid his nearly $100,000 hospital bills. The culprits were apprehended and sentenced to prison
Gaga committed in February 2021 to paying all of his hospital bills, which totaled nearly $100,000, and he also said she brought in counselors to help him move on from the near-death ordeal.
Jackson accepted a plea deal for the shooting and was sentenced to 21 years in prison, while White pleaded no contest and was sentenced to four years on lesser charges.
Lafayette Whaley, who was accused of driving them two men around to find dogs to steal, also pleaded no contest to an accomplice charge and was sentenced to six years in prison.
McBride had been dating White’s father, and both were accused of trying to help him evade capture. They were each charged as accessories after the fact, and the senior White was additionally hit with a gun possession charge, according to CBS.
