Producer Disputes Ex-Idol’s Claims

A lawyer for concert producer Scott Stander disputed claims made by a former “American Idol” contestant that she recently won a judgment to collect unpaid earnings from his client.

Kimberly Locke, who made it to the finals of the second season of “Idol,” recently told ainow.org that she performed on all 16 dates of “American Stars In Concert,” a 2008 holiday tour produced by Stander, yet was forced to take legal action against him to receive compensation.

She claimed that she recently won a judgment to collect her unpaid earnings and called Stander’s conduct “not only unprofessional, but very insulting and completely unacceptable.”

Her lawyer, Jeffrey Zack, added that “Kimberly worked hard on this project, and the fact that Stander is still trying to stiff her, over two years later and after a court judgment, is appalling.”

But what Stander attorney Peter Babos apparently found appalling was Locke and Zack’s version of events. Babos told Pollstar in a statement that there was, in fact, no court ruling in this case and Locke didn’t win a judgment against Stander.

Instead, he claims Locke and her attorney “took advantage of Mr. Stander by taking a surprise default judgment in a contested matter instead of going to binding arbitration as their contract provided for. My client has been making payments to her, but has bona fide disputes about the final amount owed to her.”

He added Stander continues to make good faith efforts to resolve the matter and said it is unfortunate that “almost three years later, Ms. Locke has now chosen the media for nothing else but a self-serving publicity tactic instead of continuing to resolve this dispute in a professional and civil manner.”

Stander & Associates has dozens of agency clients including Judy Tenuta, Barbara Eden and Gary Burghoff.