Gordon Ramsay sued for allegedly dodging wine bill

Culinary magician and swearing champion Gordon Ramsay is being dragged to court by an American wine merchant for allegedly failing to settle a bill for a large shipment of fine wine.

Wineberry America LLC has filed a lawsuit against the foul mouthed chef, his private equity backers the Blackstone Group, Ramsay's hotel The Righa Royal New York hotel (now called The London NYC), and others. Wineberry claims Ramsay failed to pay for $40,900 worth of wine. Wineberry, which imports and sells fine wines from across the world and has offices in the US, France and China, says it regularly delivered wines from July 2007 until November 2009 to Ramsay's New York property. Everything went well, the court papers state, until the Scottish-born celebrity allegedly stopped paying for the wine. The company decided to sue after Ramsay failed to respond to its pleas. Ramsay, the star of Hell's Kitchen, has opened restaurants in some of the world's most famous lodgings including Claridge's in London, the Dubai Hilton Creek Hotel, and Cape Town's One and Only Hotel.