He is as well known for feuds as for rapping, but in his latest spat Kanye West has picked an unusual target: the world’s oldest insurance market.
The American hip hop star claims that Lloyd’s of London engaged in foul play to avoid paying out on a policy after his tour was cut short when he suffered a mental breakdown last year.
West, 40, is suing for $10 million (£7.5 million) over claims that a group of five syndicates on the insurance market tried to use allegations of drug-taking to deny his touring company what it was due.
Using language that could have been plucked from one of his songs, the Very Good Touring company alleges that Lloyd’s was happy to take West’s money but turned nasty when it was asked to cover the cost of 22 cancelled shows.
It also alleges that the insurers planted stories in the media that were damaging to West. “Lloyd’s companies enjoy collecting bounteous premiums; they don’t enjoy paying claims, no matter how legitimate,” Very Good claimed in legal documents submitted to a Californian court. “The artists think they are buying peace of mind. The insurers know they’re just selling a ticket to the courthouse.”
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Lloyd’s of London is named after the coffee shop where it was founded in the late 17th century by merchants and sailors looking for shipping news. Today the market and the syndicates that make up its membership insure everything from pop concerts to oil rigs.
The final dates of West’s North American tour were cancelled in November after bouts of increasingly bizarre behaviour by the star. A month earlier his wife, the reality TV star Kim Kardashian, 36, had jewellery worth millions of dollars stolen at gunpoint at a hotel in Paris.
At a concert in San Jose on November 17, West was booed after telling the crowd of his support for President Trump. “I said something that was politically incorrect. I told you I didn’t vote, but if I were to have voted, I would have voted for Trump,” he said. Things went from bad to worse two days later in Sacramento where West spent 15 minutes ranting about subjects including Hillary Clinton and Beyoncé, the singer, and her husband, the rapper and businessman Jay-Z.
“I know you got killers. Please don’t send them at my head,” West said in an apparent plea to Jay-Z not to have him killed. Very Good noted that West had been unable to finish the show and described his behaviour as “strained, confused and erratic”. All concert-goers received full refunds, it said.
The show marked the end of the tour and Very Good said that West had been suffering a “serious, debilitating medical condition” when he was admitted to UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital on November 21.
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It said that it submitted its claim of $9.86 million for the costs of cancelling the tour two days later, but after a series of medical tests and investigations by the insurers found them unwilling to pay.
It is at this point that the allegations of dirty tricks emerge.
“Defendants have . . . suggested that they may deny coverage of the claim on the supportable contention that use of marijuana by Kanye caused the medical condition,” the legal papers claimed.
Very Good alleged that the insurers attempted to besmirch West’s reputation in the media.
Its complaint says: “Plaintiff is informed and believes that the ‘planting’ of the confidential information with news outlets . . . was part and parcel of defendants’ efforts to impair plaintiff’s rights to the indemnity payments due under the insurance policies.”
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A spokesman for Lloyd’s refused to comment on West’s specific claims. A statement from the insurer said: “The reputation of the market has been built on meeting our obligations quickly and effectively where a claim should be settled.
“The market will always take steps to find an amicable solution to both clients and insurers where there are disagreements through discussion and mediation. However, where an agreement cannot be reached, valid claims can only be paid on syndicates being satisfied that they have the information required to make a payment.”