The Rocket Man's bid to reinstate his multimillion-dollar negligence lawsuit against his former accounting firm was shot down by the London Court of Appeal on Monday for a second time.
A three-judge panel rejected John's claim that PricewaterhouseCoopers owed him $10.5 million by failing to inform him of a 1986 contract that stipulated he and not his manager was to pick up the tab on touring costs. John's lawyers alleged the moneymen misappropriated millions of dollars from the entertainer, nearly forcing Sir Elton into bankruptcy.
Lord Justice Robert Walker, one of the two judges who ruled against the singer, said the case demonstrated a "melancholy truth" that people don't read the fine print in contracts.
"The fact that very large sums of money are to change hands under a commercial agreement, and further fact that it has been negotiated and prepared over a long period by well-remunerated professionals, provide no guarantee of competent drafting," Walker said.
The flamboyant popster sued PricewaterhouseCooopers (the same accounting folks who tally those Oscar ballots every year), as well as Andrew Haydon (former managing director of John Reid Enterprises, which oversaw Elton's empire), accusing both of negligence in handling his finances.
In the lawsuit, John contended that Haydon allowed the accounting firm to unfairly charge him for overseas touring expenses, including booking agents, accountants and producers. John previously reached a $5 million out-of-court settlement with his former manager and lover, John Reid.
But after hearing of John's lavish spending sprees--including blowing a tidy $55 million on such luxuries as classic cars, sumptuous clothing, jewelry and a whopping $205,774 on flowers alone over a 20-month period between 1996 and 1997--London's High Court last year dismissed the suit against them.
While citing Elton as "a man of an uncommonly generous disposition," the presiding judge acknowledged the musician's lack of business acumen cost him the case.
By failing to revive the suit against his financial handlers, the 55-year-old singer ended up owing his lawyers $11.8 million in legal fees.
But lest you think John's yellow brick road may not be paved with gold, we remind you that John is worth an estimated $225 million.
In other Elton money news, the Halifax Daily News reports that he plans to leave the bulk of his fortune to his current lover, David Furnish, when he dies. That is, of course, if the pop legend doesn't spend it all first.
Meanwhile, the ever magnanimous musician held a benefit concert last week in the German city of Erfurt to aid families and victims of a horrific school shooting there in April that took the lives of 16 people. The event raised an estimated $300,000 and John kicked in $160,500 of his own money to help those affected by the tragedy.