‘Enough is enough’: Phil Collins' ex-wife Orianne Cevey loses $20M lawsuit after judge dismisses her claim
MIAMI, FLORIDA: Orianne Cevey, 48, filed a lawsuit against Phil Collins, 71, seeking half of the earnings from the sale of the sizable Miami mansion they had shared. In January 2021, Collins sold the estate for $40 million. She said that he had previously offered to give her a portion of a transaction in exchange for returning to his home.
However, Judge Alan Fine dismissed the Miami, Florida case completely on Friday morning after finding that Cevey had disobeyed the court's orders ten times.
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Fine added, in a transcript seen by Page Six, “I’m done with this. You can go ahead and prepare the order of dismissal … I feel comfortable that enough is enough.” An order of dismissal will be issued shortly.
Collins' well-known Palm Beach attorney, Jeffrey D Fisher, referred to Cevey with her most recent married name of Bates when he spoke to Page Six. “Before she filed this case, Orianne Bates threatened to make disparaging remarks about Phil Collins unless he caved in to her demands for 50 percent of the proceeds from the sale of his former Miami Beach home." “Phil Collins has steadfastly maintained that Orianne’s lawsuit claiming an interest in his home was baseless because he never made an agreement with her regarding the home. The court’s decision today to dismiss her case vindicates Phill Collins’ decision to fight for the right outcome rather than give in to her threats.” Collins' defense team charged Cevey with "committing fraud" in April.
In court documents, Cevey stated that she divorced her second husband, Charles Mejjati because Collins offered her a portion of their Miami home if she left Mejjati. Cevey claimed that she was “unable to understand what she was signing as she relied heavily on her pain medication and suffered from incredible pain." In contrast to what she claimed in the lawsuit against Collins, she was partially paralyzed and unable to walk following spinal and neck surgery. Collins denied guaranteeing her a share of the house's earnings.
Between 1999 and 2007, the couple had been married before. She then got back together with Collins in 2015 after being married to investment banker Mejjati from 2008 until 2017. In 2020, they split up once more, and she wed Thomas Bates.
According to court documents, Cevey selected Bates from a male escort service where he marketed himself as a "sexy intellectual" and from whom she filed for divorce in December 2021.
Collins was shocked to hear that his ex had remarried while still residing in his home. He then initiated a successful court action to have them removed from the property. Upon her divorce from Collins in 2008, Cevey received a $46 million settlement, which at the time set a UK record. The couple has two sons Matthew, 17, and Nic, 21, who took up his father's drumming responsibilities during the most recent Genesis farewell tour. The musician is now residing in Switzerland.