Memorabilia ruling favors U2

Irish rock band U2 has emerged victorious in a court battle with a former stylist it claimed had taken important memorabilia without permission nearly two decades ago.

Lola Cashman had told Dublin’s High Court that U2 frontman Bono had given her several items as gifts during U2’s Joshua Tree tour in 1987. An iconic Stetson hat, a pair of metal earrings, a green sweat shirt and a pair of black trousers -- all worn by Bono -- were among the disputed items Cashman claimed she had been given, and which she tried to sell in 2002.

But after a protracted legal dispute that saw Bono take the witness stand, judge Michael Peart ruled Wednesday that on the balance of probability, the items had not been given to Cashman as she had claimed.