Oprah Winfrey’s irresponsible mom countersues store for giving her credit
I kid you not. This is exactly the same entitlement/victim mentality that has gotten us into the bailout mess we are in. Irresponsible spender demands limitless credit. Cries “predatory lender” when the chickens come home to roost. Borrow. Spend. Whine. Repeat:
Oprah Winfrey’s mother should not have to pay a high-end fashion store the more than $150,000 it says it is owed because the store extended credit despite knowing her troubles managing debt, according to a new court filing.
101970Vernita LeeValentina Inc. sued Winfrey’s mother, Vernita Lee of Milwaukee, in July, contending that she racked up a bill of $155,547.31 in purchases and interest as of July 1. She was required to make a minimum monthly payment of $2,000 to the store, the suit says.
Mediation between the two sides failed last week, prompting Lee to file a counterclaim contending she does not owe the money.
The account is “unconscionable, and therefore, unenforceable because Valentina knowingly and unfairly took advantage of Lee’s lack of knowledge, ability, and/or capacity when Valentina created the account,” the civil lawsuit says.
It is the second time Lee and Valentina have been in conflict over her wardrobe bill.
In 2002, Lee was ordered to pay $35,000 upfront and make monthly payments of $5,000 until another past-due bill of $174,285 was paid, according to court records.
As part of the resolution of that case, a court order dismissing the case included the phrase, “Valentina Boutique, Inc., shall not at any time extend further store credit to the Defendant, Vernita Lee.”
The 2002 case was dismissed as long as Lee made the payments, which she did, according to the counterclaim.
Lee has had an open-ended charge account with Valentina since January 2004, according to the recent civil case.
Lee also contends that the store violated the Truth in Lending Act by not disclosing the finance charge and annual percentage rate in the account more conspicuously.
Perhaps they should have tattooed it on her forehead?
***
More: McNorman’s blog.
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This behavior is endorsed by Oprah and Obama
Who does she think she is..Freddie Mac?
Simple counter-argument. Why did she bother re-applying for credit at a store she knew could not extend that credit?
I’ll bet I know how. She probably demanded to see the manager/owner and just yelled that she’s Oprah’s mother!
Useless. Liberal. Idiot.
Yep, and it’s McDonald’s fault that people get fat. When did personal responsibility die?
Whenever Bush signs the earmark ridden, socialist takever, bail out bill.
I am so sick and tired of this victim mentality. GROW UP.
We need to start mandatory basic finance classes in elementary school.
affirmative action lending, this is the result. unbelieveable. i am stunned.
you would think that Oprah would just step in and pay the bill, not that she is responsible, but her mother must be getting the credit based on her ties to Oprah. cause didn’t Oprah come from a poor background, which means any funds her mother has is because of Oprah’s fame and fortune?
i would imagine that the store must be extending credit to Oprah’s mother based on the fact that she is Oprah’s mom. so, who was being the predator here? oprah’s mom or the lender. i would say the mom. she led them to believe that she had the funds to purchase on credit and payback those purchases based upon what salary? where is she employed? my guess is she gets a stipend from Oprah…
How could Oprah let her mom sue for this? OMG! Just pay it and advise stores to not extend credit to her mother anymore.
No – Fannie Mae! You sexist!
And take time away from Obama’s elementary sexual engineering indoctrination classes. Well, you racist neocon…..
PAY YOUR DAMN BILL. I have to, why should you be different, because of your skin color?
Grow up.
She is NOT her mother’s keeper!
Kind of strange for me to understand how a billionaires mother could be in such a position to begin with? 150K ? is that all? I mean Oprah….come on….you can’t foot this bill for your mom? That isn’t very nice. If I had a billion dollars and lived like Oprah, 150k is the last thing my mom (God rest her soul) would have to worry about.
Surveyor – same way Obama’s brother lives in a hut.
This “fannie Mae” has a lot of junk in her trunk…
Oh P.S. Surveyor – do we see any similarities here????
Maybe we can send Oprah’s mother this book
Should be simple enough!
Obama’s brother has a hut he can share if she’s strapped. Family first with both those dirtbags I see. barf.
You forgot the other part of the countersuit: “In her counterclaim, Lee, 73, also is asking the court to award her damages, including twice the amount of any finance charge on the account, plus her attorney fees.”
Not only does she not want to pay what she owes, but wants the store to pay her! Unbelievable.
No, that’s just the ultimate manifestation.
sorry misscheryl, just saw your post…. I’m watchin baseball..
Whenever I think we’ve reached the ultimate low in lawsuit arguments, we dig a little deeper. I would hope the judge just tosses her suit out as frivolous. But I’m guessing he will find in her favor and make the rest of the customers cover it.
Come on Oprah, pay your mom’s bill, have her declared incompetent (by her own admission in a court filing) and take control of her finances.
Don’t make the rest of us pay for her bad debts.
There’s probably more than enough money under the cushions of her daughter’s sofa to cover it.
But, I suppose she could break a nail looking…
I did state that in my comment, you must have missed it, but knowing this woman is being extended credit by the store because she is Oprah’s mother (most likely), as I doubt the mother has an income other than what Oprah gives her. And, if this was my mother and my reputation, you can bet I would pay the bill and get tell the stores no more credit unless you base it on ‘her’ income not mine.
Oh yeah…similarities abound Misscheryl.
Like hawkeye54 said “she is NOT her mothers keeper”.
I understand that also but still…when you are worth a billion…what’s a 150k for mom? Just seems weird to me thats all. Perhaps Oprah and MommaOprah don’t get along?
Great Minds AJ
Imagine if they hadn’t given her the credit. We would be hearing about a lawsuit alleging discrimination…and how bad would it have looked for the store that they wouldn’t give the mother of the richest woman on the planet a few hundred thousand in credit? Would have completely appeared as if it was because she’s black and the media would have pounced on it. damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Similar to the pressure they put on banks that led to our current financial situation…just a smaller example. So we use race to extort money from businesses in this new post-racial whatever the eff they’re claiming it is. What makes it post-racial? The fact that we’re not allowed to notice or say anything?
And what makes you think she can read and at that level?
Surveyor – with some “groups” they only know how to play the victim..hence, they aren’t anybody’s keeper.
Think we’ll get our $10 back?
Well, she did give her mom $100K as a mother’s day gift. I just wonder what she did with the money.
HA ya beat me to it, RightisRight.
Maybe they have the audio book version?
30 – excellent point!
audio is extra i’m sure, that’s ok, we’ll pay for that also
And why doesn’t her filthy-rich daughter bail her out? Throw her in jail for wasting court time – ignorance of law is NOT a defense, otherwise expect millions of similar lawsuits.
excellent idea Michelle! I’m sure she’s looking in the mirror enough, admiring herself in her ill-gotten attire, so she’d notice!
Look at me! I’m Oprah’s mom!!
Wait… I thought you just said it was affirmative action lending? Are they giving credit to oprah’s mom because oprah is black? Things really are getting out of control.
EXACTLY RIGHT.
This really burns me! I can’t believe Bush let this happen to O’s mommy!
Did they hold a gun to her head and make her sign the documents?
Isn’t Oprah estranged from her mother? I freely admit to having a rabid appetite for pop culture minutia and I had no idea her mother was still alive until this story broke a few weeks ago. There must be a reason why Oprah’s not paying the bill since the amount is basically the loose change Oprah finds in her couch.
Off topic, but McCain’s new spanish language immigration ad is absolutely maddening.
Good grief, Oprah is a bizzilonaire, can’t she buy clothes for her poor ol’ mother?????
I’m sure Wisconsin’s fine Democrat senators can add a teeny little earmark to the bailout bill to cover Mama Oprah’s . . . indiscretion.
Oprahmessiah will pay her mothers bills as soon as Obamamessiah pays his half-brothers bills to become a mechanic.
So much for the “I am my brothers keepers” mantra from these socialists.
GSP
Pathetic.
It finally happened. This is officially the most absurd thing I have ever read on this blog.
Well, should any of us be surprised? Do you think that parasite Oprah just sprang full blown from the bowels of the earth?
I know it seems logical….but in reality she had a mother who taught her everything she knows.
Scream racism and then pull the rip off…and look how well it has worked for the completely talentless Oprah…
Say what?!
$150K?
OT…but isn’t it interesting that when Obama spoke on the floor sitting just behind him was that loathsome socialist Bernie Sanders as Obama thanked that swell guy DODD.
OMG……we are so screwed…..
So, let me get this straight…I pay higher interest rates because Oprah is too cheap to pay her mothers’ bad debts? Great.
more like fannie mae
I’m surprised the Oprah would allow her mother to embarrass her this way. This is pocket-change for her!
Oh Michelle, you gotta post something on this. Sweet lord…
Back to Oprah…doesn’t she consider Maya Angelou to be her mother?
Hawkeye and I’mtired of it,
Noted your posts, I just couldn’t tell from the picture.
Our dear bho has a brother living on $12.00 a year and to date he has not given him a penny. This does not surprise me one bit on Opra.
L
Didn’t Maya say,”When people show you who they are, believe them.” Oprah’s mom seems to have shown herself more than once. $150K? For what?
Mookie, Maya Angelou is the biggest racist I’ve ever ran across. She spoke at my college one year and you would not believe her demands (as the color of the people that should pick her up at the airport, the color of the Limo, the color of all on stage, the color of the person to introduce her, the color of the first 10 rows, etc.) and her rant. I’m not even going to mention that racist rant.
John. I think Maya was showing you who she was.
Why isn’t she in the $700 billion dollar bailout bill?! If that bill makes sure kids get wooden arrows, what about Oprah’s mom and her basic $150,000 wardrobe?! Why should anyone in this country pay their bills? Why should Germans pay their bills? Why shouldn’t dead people vote?! Why….never mind…
Oprah doesn’t get embarrassed, it’s evryone else’s fault.
What – did she think the shop was just going to give her the clothes for free? She probably demanded they custom tailor everything at no extra charge to fit her fat a$$ too, or she’d sue them for that as well.
This just makes me sick. I hope the judge fines her for her stupidity.
my comment about affirmative action refers to the ‘going to court over predatory lending’. and, you might be right, i should have had clear separation from my other thought, which i thought a new paragraph would do, but alas not for you.
i began to think, that just maybe they were lending to her due to the fact of Oprah, cause the size of the credit offered. as Oprah’s family is poor other than their relation to Oprah (at least as the story goes..). To have 150,000+ in credit at just one leads one to presume that she might have equal sized credit at other stores. her relationship to her daughter is what is allowing her this credit line, period.
her wanting to sue, is based on the mantra of ‘predatory lending’, which has been birthed from the affirmative action in the mortgage and lending industries as created by the expansion of the CRA. there, now, hopefully i have solidified my reasonings for the comments, if not, i trust you will point it out to me. and thank-you.. by the way.. i love a good critique!
I didn’t want to be the one to tell you this, Oprah. But, your mother needs to be put in a home for the elderly and infirm. If you think she has all her faculties, then you’re both frickin nuts!
OT,
GO CUBS!!!!!
bluesoc is very pugnacious today. I think he is showing some signs of a savior complex.
Don’t be so shocked. That type of defense is not uncommon in the finance industry. “You should have never made us the loan in the first place, so we should not have to pay you back”. And you can expect to see more of that with mortgages in the very near future.
Reminds me of when Oprah demanded to be let into Hermes in Paris after they were closed. “Racists”, I believe was the implication.
Doesn’t surprise me a single bit. Look at the Legends Ball farce Oprah had a couple of years ago. She only hired white wait staff.
Her Crash moment!
Well, at least she can’t claim she has nothing to wear.
Oprah’s mama is the best dressed deadbeat here in SE Wisconsin!
Not that she should have to, but Oprah could pay this bill with her pocket change.
Oprah earns enough money to pay off this bill every 5 hours. A civil lawsuit charging “predatory lending” is an insult to every man, woman and family in this country that is struggling financially.
Valentinas knew Lee’s history and lent to her anyway. Lee knew her own history and “bought” clothes there anyway.
They deserve each other.
Uhbama has dispatched an ACORN rep to remedy the situation.
Solution: we will forget about you hassling Oprah’s mom if you make a campaign contribution in the amount of the bill she owes. You must hire 100 more black folks and educate your racist white folks about their attitudes towards minorities.
I heard Maya Angelous speak at an event in Oakland a few years ago. She made some very salient, and non-ranting, points about the abject absence of any measure of women of color, yet we were in downtown Oakland. She was eloquent in her entreatment of the ladies who put on the event to be conscious of this so that the room can be more demographically aligned. She was definitely gentle, while firm.
Just. So. Oprah.
She.like many rich folk , probably thought she should get stuff for free…because she is who she is!!
Didn’t Oprah sue a store in France for not staying open after store hours because she wanted to shop? I remember that, but not the details.
There is something more to this story that isn’t in the news. Mamma racked up bills of over $300 K (total) more than a quarter million. My guess is that there was some sort of understanding that she would pay her bills. The store can’t possibly be so stoopid that they would lend her credit if they thought she was going to skip out.
Wait. I have an idea… Let’s fund ACORN so they can teach Mama to control her shopaholic problems.
Yahoo! That will solve it.
Far be it from me to defend Oprah, BUT… Perhaps she is tired of freeloading relatives with their hands out. Perhaps she (Oprah) has bailed dear old mom out too many times, thus enabling this continued behavior.
I say, let mom twist in the wind. It isn’t like she didn’t know that store wasn’t supposed to extend her credit, she did know. She ‘bought’ any way and said that simply fab phrase “Charge it!”.
I don’t feel any sympathy for the dopes at the store either. They had an agreement not to extend her credit yet did it anyway. Not just the usual $400 $600 most of us get on retail accounts. Nosiree. $150,000 This kind of stupid seems like it would take real, concentrated effort to achieve. If the store can collect from mom, let ‘em. I hope the suit winds up making mom give all the stuff back to the store and the store has to take that as full and final settlement.
Tools. Top to bottom. Tools.
No problem, bho will pay her debt……with our money!
Probably donated it to Obambi.
Over 300,000 dollars on clothes?
Heaven help us.
Reparations!
Oprah’s mother should be protected under the Americans with Financial Irresponsibilities Act. Same for those poor ignoramuses who were never, ever going to be able to pay their mortgages.
All this financial crisis will do is make it impossible for genuinely hard-working folk to buy a house or obtain a line of credit anywhere.
Capitalism is dead. It died the death of a 1,000 cuts – each one chalked up to greed and entitlement.
careful…. you dont know me like that
How ironic that Oprah’s mother is milking her the same way her AA brothers and sisters have been milking our country for 40 years. Give it up girl. How does it feel? oooh wait a minute, Oprah has been ignoring her mother’s plight, that’s why she got sued. mmmm maybe the Federal Government should take a lesson from Oprah! You go girl!
Oh, I’m surprised no one’s tried this yet:
Oprah’s mom’s credit balance at Valentina boutique: $155K and change
Oprah’s mom’s monthly payment on said balance: $5,000
Oprah’s mom’s claim that giving her credit was “unconscionable?”: Priceless
For all your debt-welching needs, you have your victim-crats. For everything else, you mere mortals without unlimited personal credit lines at custom boutiques and mulit-billionaire daughters have Mastercard.
Well, I’m no Oprah fan but in all fairness it should be noted that Oprah and her parents are estranged.
And burn the building down if it’s owned by Jews. I’m Al Sharpton and I approved this message.
Hey, do you think this ugly, fat, black, “I am not responsible for my decisions”, “someone else pay my bills”, “C-word” is going to vote for the taxing black hole Obama?
Amyone willing to bet their life on this?
I want to SLAP the founding fathers that let slavery slip by the intelligence test… what a SNAFU.
If you DON’T sell to her–You get sued.
You DO sell to her—– You get sued.
but if they’d denied her credit, she’d sue for discrimination. Or something.
The lawsuit from Oprah’s mom is stupid. But the original court decision said, “Valentina Boutique, Inc., shall not at any time extend further store credit to the Defendant” and yet they did just that. Isn’t that an extremely poor business decision?
“Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” I mean, the business just looks ridiculously stupid here, as does Vernita Lee.