Lady Gaga Calls Ex-Boyfriend's Lawsuit 'Unlawful'

Last Wednesday, songwriter and music producer (and former romantic interest to Lady Gaga) Rob Fusari filed a lawsuit against the pop performer, claiming she cheated him out of a twenty percent cut as her career started to take off.

On Friday, Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga, fired back with a court filing alleging that Fusari's suit was an attempt to collect "unlawful compensation" for services as an unlicensed employment agent.

Fusari claims that he worked closely with Germanotta before her performance career blossomed to Grammy-winning status. In his suit, he alleges to have come up with his former girlfriend's stage name as well co-written a number of her hit songs such as "Paparazzi" and "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich."

According to the lawsuit, their romantic relationship developed into a joint business venture to promote her career. Fusari's cut would have been 20 percent of the earnings.

Lady Gaga's lawyer Charles Ortner wrote that Fusari and his company violated statutes barring them from "acting as employment agents without a license and charging Lady Gaga an unlawful fee for their purported services."

Fusari's lawyer, Robert S. Meloni, met him tit-for-tat with an email to The Associated Press calling the claim "ludicrous."

"Fusari is a PARTNER in the Team Love LLC with Gag and her father (through their company Mermaid)," Meloni wrote. "Rob was no more of an 'agent' for her than she is a Roman Catholic nun."