A woman who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to someone pretending to be Kenny Chesney cannot take legal action against the country singer, according to an appeals court decision.
Patricia Linson was persuaded to hand over $310,000 (£227,000) to a person posing as Chesney. She argued that the real musician should be held responsible because he allegedly failed to protect his supporters from impersonators carrying out scams.
However, a California appeals court ruled last week, in a decision obtained by Billboard, that existing legal precedent does not oblige celebrities to "warn and protect their fans against third-party imposter scams".
"We do not doubt that financial scams are becoming more sophisticated and prevalent as technological developments make it easier for people to impersonate others," the court stated. The judges nevertheless said requiring public figures to issue warnings about every third-party scam on their websites and social media could go beyond "common sense and sound public policy" and potentially expose them to legal responsibility.
According to Linson, the person pretending to be Chesney reached out to her through LinkedIn in 2021 and convinced her to provide the money. The impersonator reportedly claimed the funds were needed for several expenses, including attending an awards ceremony, fixing musical equipment and producing music videos. Linson said she believed the person was genuine after receiving information about upcoming concerts and releases that had not yet been announced publicly.
Linson eventually discovered that she had been deceived and filed a lawsuit in 2022. The case targeted the alleged scammer and another individual who was named as an accomplice, while also naming the She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy singer and accusing him of not doing enough to prevent the fraud.
She claimed Chesney was negligent because he was likely aware that criminals were pretending to be him to target fans and should have taken steps to alert his audience about the schemes.
As part of the latest ruling, the court has also instructed Linson to cover the legal costs Chesney incurred while defending himself during the appeal.
